Black Kale and Almond Pesto

Traditional recipe and also with the Thermomix.
Today I present the black kale and almond pesto, to dress pasta or even croutons and bruschetta.
I personally recommend pairing this pesto with white meat. You’ll see it gives your roast an extra touch.
But do you know the properties of Black Kale?
There are other good reasons to love it: it contains no cholesterol, provides about 49 calories per 100 grams of product, has decongestant, purifying, diuretic, antioxidant, and laxative properties. Be careful not to cook it too long; it could have the opposite effect (astringent).
In particular, the antioxidant properties of black kale, according to experts, make it particularly useful in the prevention of numerous forms of cancer (breast, colon, rectal, stomach, prostate, and bladder cancer, as well as in the treatment of ulcerative colitis and gastric ulcer).
The right season to consume black kale is certainly its harvest time, which begins in autumn and continues throughout the winter months, sometimes extending into the early spring.

Black Kale and Almond Pesto is part of my collection of pestos, sauces, and creams to dress pasta, click here to see.

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very cheap
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Boiling
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Fall, Winter, and Spring

290.23 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 290.23 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 4.26 (g) of which sugars 2.18 (g)
Proteins 8.17 (g)
Fat 27.48 (g) of which saturated 5.29 (g)of which unsaturated 1.54 (g)
Fibers 2.49 (g)
Sodium 195.94 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 85 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

Let’s do the shopping

7.1 oz black kale (net weight)
2.1 oz Parmigiano Reggiano DOP (grated or Pecorino Romano)
1.8 oz peeled almonds
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic (without core)
to taste salt
to taste dried chili peppers (if you like)

Tools

What we need to make it

1 Pot or the Thermomix
1 Hand blender
1 Knife
1 Cutting board

Steps

How to clean black kale

To prepare the black kale pesto, first clean the black kale by separating the leaves from the central stem
Then, with a knife, separate the two leaf halves from the central part.
The part we need is the outer part, while the central part can be used to make soups or minestrone.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the leaves for 3-5 minutes.
After the time has elapsed, drain the leaves and squeeze them out.
Transfer the blanched black kale to a mixer. Add the grated cheese, the almonds, the garlic without core, the salt, and the chili pepper
Add half of the oil and start mixing.
While the mixer is running, pour in the rest
And continue blending until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous, if you need to freeze it, I recommend not putting the cheese in right away but adding it later.
After cleaning and cutting the black kale as described above, put 17.6 oz of water in the bowl, put the cleaned and cut kale in the basket.
Cook for 8-10 min. at 212°F spoon speed with the measuring cup.
,
At the end of cooking, drain the kale and let both it and the bowl cool.
As soon as both are cool, place the squeezed kale leaves in the bowl along with the rest of the ingredients and blend for 2 min. speed 8.
Use the spatula to gather and repeat the operation.
Here it is, the Black Kale and Almond Pesto is ready.