Thursday, May 2, 2013

KALE PESTO/GREMOLATA



Another recipe from my beloved cookbook of the moment; “I Quit Sugar”. The author Sarah Wilson makes her Kale Pesto by steaming the kale first, which I assume gives the pesto a creamier and smoother quality. I personally like a more textured pesto and the less oil the better. Hence my Kale Pesto could also be construed as a twist on a Gremolata, a finely chopped herb condiment traditionally made with lemon juice and or zest, garlic and parsley or other herbs. I actually used this pesto as a topping over plain rice and really enjoyed the zesty flavours. I have to say I am very impressed with this extremely popular superfood. Must try my hand at cooking oven-baked Kale chips that are popping up in cookbooks and food blogs everywhere. Stay tuned.


INGREDIENTS

  • 1 bunch kale, washed & stems removed 
  • 3 green shallots, finely chopped
  • 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley 
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil 
  • juice of 1 small lime
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated sheep's pecorino cheese, plus extra to serve 

COOKING 

1. Place all ingredients and a pinch of sea salt in a food processor or blender and process/blend for a few minutes until ingredients are well combined. You will need to stop the processor / blender several times to scape the edges of the processor/blender so that all ingredients are evenly mixed. Serve with extra grated cheese if desired. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-6 days. 

Serve spread on top of rice/corn thins/cakes, as an accompaniment to a salad, as a topping/sauce for pasta or even to flavour a plain bowl of rice. 

Makes / around 1 1/2 cups 
Total Preparation time / 10 minutes 
Total Cooking time / 5 minutes maximum 

x Emily 

2 comments:

  1. Hi just curious about your classification of dishes with sheep's cheese as dairy free? Do you not count milk products from animals other than cows (goat, sheep etc) as dairy? Just interested in your views :)

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  2. Hi Mollie, that's a great question. From my experience with naturopath's and a gastro-intestinal specialist, my definition of dairy-free includes no cow's milk products. These include all cheese's that include cow's milk, but not cheese's that come from the milk of a sheep, goat or buffalo. Technically, you could certainly say that these non-cow's milk cheese's still contain dairy, however they do not contain the cow's milk that an increasing number of people are becoming allergic to.

    Personally, I consider dairy-free to include all milk products that come from a cow and have to read all crackers, bread and sauce ingredients carefully to make sure that they contain no skim milk products, whey or casein, a milk protein. You would be surprised when you start looking how many products have these items in them! I am allergic to lactose and what some specialist's call dairy however when I eat small amounts of sheep's, goat's and buffalo mozzarella I have no side effects at all.

    Hope that answered your question!! Please feel free to keep commenting and posting:)

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