This is adapted ever so slightly from Chris Morocco’s recipe. I’ve eliminated pistachios because they aren’t nut that I keep on hand, although, with the broccoli, I used almonds, which worked very well, and I’ve added lemon, because what don’t I add lemon too. And then, I’ve ever so slightly tipped the vegetable to pasta ratio by using 8 ounces of pasta rather than twelve.
Ingredients
1 large bunch Tuscan kale, ribs and stems removed, or 6 ounces of baby spinach or a large bunch of spinach, tough stems trimmed off, or 8 ounces of baby broccoli
8 ounces pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
zest or juice of lemon — for the spinach pesto, which I made last week, I used the zest, for the kale, which I made last night, I used the juice of the same lemon, both worked equally well
1 garlic clove
1 ounce Parmesan, finely grated, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Freshly ground black pepper
Blend olive oil, zest or juice of lemon, garlic, Parmesan together in a food processor or blender
Bring medium or large pot of salted water up to a boil and cook the kale, spinach, or broccoli until bright green and wilted, about 30 seconds and the scoop out with tongs and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet or large mixing bowl; keep water boiling and add pasta, cooking to the packaging specification
Allow kale, spinach, or broccoli to cool slightly and then wring out excess water with your hands — if you are using broccoli, vigorously shaking works better than wringing
Add kale, spinach, or broccoli and 1/4 cup of pasta water — scoop it out of the pot while the pasta is cooking — to the food processor or blender and purée until smooth
A quick note about this, if you are using a blender, you’ll end up with more of a paste like Chris, if you are using a food processor, you’ll end up with more of a very fine purée
Scrape the pesto into the bottom of a large bowl
Reserving 1/2 cup of water, drain the pasta and then transfer it to bowl with pesto; do this, I don’t want to say as quickly as possible, don’t rinse the pasta, don’t worry about shaking all of the excess water, you want to add the pasta while it’s still hot and 1 tablespoon of butter and toss adding pasta cooking liquid by the tablespoon if needed
Serve with additional Parmesan and fresh pepper
Serves about 4, or 2 if you are hungry and don’t feel like making much more