Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serving size: Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
200g kale
30 g basil
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp neautral oil
good crack of black pepper
40g pine nuts (plus 15g roasted pine nuts for garnish)
40g grated grana padano (omit for vegan option)
1 small clove garlic (crushed)
100g fine green beans
300g Bucatini pasta
METHOD
1.) Boil a full kettle of water and whilst waiting for it to boil, remove the stems from the kale and then blanch the leaves (effectively, add the kale leaves to a pot of boiling hot water for 30 seconds and then place them in a bowl of ice/very cold water to stop the cooking process). This process tenderises the kale without losing its vibrancy.
2.) Drain the kale and then squeeze out as much for the water as you can.
3.) Boil water for the pasta, salt it heavily and add the pasta.
4.) Add the kale, basil, pesto, olive oils, pine nuts, garlic and salt and pepper to a blender and blitz all the ingredients together. If the mixture is too thick, I usually add a little water to loosen it up as I find adding more oil mutes the flavour.
5.) Chop the green beans in thirds and boil them in salted water for 3-4 minutes (they should still have a little crunch to them). Drain the beans once cooked.
6.) Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 a cup of the pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot and add 4 Tbsp of the pesto, adding as much pasta water as needed to allow the pesto to coat the pasta. Finely add the green beans.
7.) The snazziest way to serve this dish is by using tongs to swirl the pasta onto the plate. Grab some pasta on with the tongs and gently start lowering it onto a plate, as you lower the pasta turn the plate continuously in the same direction until you have lowered all the pasta onto the plate (See video attached). Sprinkle with some toasted pine nuts and grated parmesan or gran padano.
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