Pasta with Tuscan kale is a tasty and creamy winter first course, with a sauce that is prepared in no time while the pasta cooks. One of the sauces that everyone agrees on is certainly basil pesto or Genovese pesto. Whether we use the ready-made one or prepare it at home in a few simple steps, we can bring to the table a dish that everyone will like. Today we propose an all-winter pasta sauce inspired by Genovese pesto but made with Tuscan kale instead of basil. In traditional dishes, particularly in Tuscany, Tuscan kale is an indispensable ingredient for making ribollita and many types of soups like our Tuscan kale and chickpea soup. Using the tenderest leaves of Tuscan kale and blending them with a few other ingredients, we can obtain a pesto that will be excellent not only to spread on bruschetta or for other types of preparation but especially fantastic for dressing pasta!
The preparation is very simple: clean the Tuscan kale leaves by removing the central stalk and blanch them for 5 minutes. Drain them well and once cold, blend them with garlic, almonds or pine nuts, grated pecorino, extra virgin olive oil, and salt. Cook the pasta al dente and dress it with the pesto, which is ready in less than 5 minutes.
Perfect for lunch and dinner every day, we can use the pasta shape we prefer, not only orecchiette but also fusilli, mezze maniche, gnocchetti sardi, farfalle, or alternatively long pasta like spaghetti or linguine. Also, for those who are gluten intolerant, gluten-free pasta works well, and for those who also want a protein-rich dish, an excellent solution can be to use chickpea pasta, lentil pasta, or other legumes. All you have to do is get all the ingredients and try this pasta with Tuscan kale as soon as possible!
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients for making Pasta with Tuscan Kale
- 10.5 oz orecchiette
- extra virgin olive oil
- 7 oz Tuscan kale
- 1.75 oz pecorino
- 1 oz almonds
- 1 clove garlic
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
Tools for making Pasta with Tuscan Kale
- 1 Pot
- 1 Stove
- 1 Food Processor
Steps for making Pasta with Tuscan Kale
First, prepare the Tuscan kale pesto by thoroughly washing the kale leaves and removing the central stalk if it is particularly tough. Blanch them in boiling water for about 5 minutes, then drain them and transfer them to a bowl with very cold water to set the color.
Place the Tuscan kale leaves in a food processor and add the garlic clove, almonds, grated pecorino, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pulse all the ingredients until you have a creamy pesto. Add more olive oil to make it silkier.
In the meantime, bring plenty of water to a boil in a pot (you can also use the kale cooking water).
Pour the pasta into the boiling water and drain it al dente.
Dress it with the prepared Tuscan kale pesto, adding more extra virgin olive oil.
Serve the pasta with Tuscan kale pesto hot.
Simo and Cicci Recommend
You can prepare the Tuscan kale pesto in advance to have it ready to dress the pasta. Store it in the fridge, tightly closed in a sterilized glass container, for up to three days. Additionally, you can also freeze it.
To make this dish vegan, replace the grated pecorino with nutritional yeast or omit it.
Besides orecchiette, you can use other types of short pasta shapes such as fusilli, mezze maniche, farfalle, or long pasta like spaghetti, linguine, tagliolini.
You can also use gluten-free pasta or pasta made from lentils, peas, chickpeas, or rice.
