
Kale pasta sauce
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- Easy
- Serves 4
Ingredients
- 400g rigatoni
- 30g unsalted butter
- 1 lemon, juiced
- a pinch dried chilli flakes, to taste
- pecorino, to serve
KALE SAUCE
- 400g kale (you can use cavolo nero, curly kale or Russian kale)
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 100g olive oil
Method
- STEP 1
For the kale sauce, slice the leaves from the stalks, reserving the stalks for later. Put a large pan of water on to boil and add plenty of salt.
- STEP 2
In a separate smaller pan, gently cook the garlic with the olive oil until the garlic begins to soften – but make sure it doesn’t burn. Carefully remove the garlic from the oil and discard.
- STEP 3
Blanch the kale stalks in the pan of boiling water for 2 minutes, then add the leaves and blanch for a further 1-2 minutes or until just turning soft.
- STEP 4
Drain the kale and leave to cool. Once cooled, blend with the garlic oil in a high-powered blender to make a smooth paste.
- STEP 5
Cook the pasta following pack instructions then drain, reserving 100ml of pasta water.
- STEP 6
In a large heatproof pan, melt the butter, stir through the kale sauce and toss in the cooked pasta. Add a little pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary. Add a squeeze of lemon depending on how sour and citrussy you like it, and season to taste.
- STEP 7
Divide between plates and sprinkle with the dried chilli, some black pepper and a good grating of pecorino.