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Whole Wheat Penne with Walnut Pesto and Kale
Mary
The walnut pesto makes this special.
120 ml 1/2 cup walnuts plus 1/4 c. toasted for topping
1 clove garlic
5 ml1 teaspoon fresh thyme
pinch of sugar
44 ml3 T good olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 bunch lacinato kale
about 4 oz. whole-wheat penne-rigate pasta
I processed the 1/2 c. walnuts, garlic, thyme,and sugar in the cuisinart until
evenly ground (not long). Then added the oil, salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, I started a big pot of water boiling. I added salt and then one bunch
of kale. After 4 minutes I fished out the kale with a slotted spoon and put it
in cold water. When cool, I removed the stems and chopped the leaves. You
could also do that part before cooking the kale. I squeezed excess water from
the leaves with my hands.
In the still-boiling water I put less than 1/4 lb. whole-wheat penne pasta.
After about 10 minutes when it was done, I drained it (reserving the liquid for
other purposes). Returning the pasta to the warm pan, I tossed it with about
half of the walnut pesto, then stirred in the kale, seasoned the mixture again
with salt and pepper, and sprinkled on top additional walnuts which had been
toasted lightly and chopped.
in
Mary sent this tasty pasta recipe. She cooks the kale and pasta in stages. My pasta pan has a steamer basket so I just put the chopped kale in the basket above the boiling pasta for the last few minutes of cooking time. --2nd try--just dropped the kale in the boiling water--worked fine.
The photo shows neither whole wheat nor penne--sorry---I did it with gluten-free pasta but you'll get the idea.