Meatless Monday: Angel Hair Pasta with Kale-Walnut Pesto
Updated: Mar. 31, 2014
Yesterday, Toronto was sunny and beautiful – for a minute, it actually felt like spring. I opened the windows in
Yesterday, Toronto was sunny and beautiful – for a minute, it actually felt like spring. I opened the windows in my apartment and let the breeze in, worked on a knitting project in the sunshine, went for a lovely walk and ate lunch on my deck. It was kind of perfect.
For the first time in a while, I was craving something light for dinner instead of heavier comfort foods.
Luckily, we had a huge bunch of kale from our latest organic veggie delivery and a whole bowl of fresh lemons sitting on our table.
Enter this vegan pesto on angel hair pasta, which I urge you to try if you don’t usually love the taste of kale. It’s a great way to get a huge serving of this nutritious green veggie without noticing (it looks like A LOT, but once it’s all blended, you wouldn’t know it).
The best part? This pesto is super versatile. I had some left over, so I spread it onto some fresh bread with hummus and roasted peppers for a sandwich today. You could also use it as a dip – or any other way you can think of!
Ingredients
Angel hair pasta (I used a box of Nature’s Legacy Organic Spelt Angel Hair Pasta)
Kale-Walnut Pesto
6 kale leaves, de-stemmed (about 4 cups raw)
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
Juice and zest of one lemon
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper
Directions
Toast your walnuts – make sure you watch closely, as they can burn quickly.
Blanch the kale: Boil a pot of water, pop the kale in and let it cook for two minutes – then quickly drain and put it into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.
Now for the easy part – combine all your pesto ingredients in a food processor and add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook your angel hair pasta (it usually cooks faster than other types) and add your desired amount of pesto. Enjoy – preferably in the sunshine!
-Katharine Watts, associate web editor
