Spaghetti with Homemade Kale-Roasted-Shallot-Hazelnut Pesto
Homemade pesto sauce has never been so easy—or so tasty. Just use a mortar and pestle to smash hazelnuts with roasted shallots and micro-kale to make this healthy pesto with a delightful crunchy texture. Combine with spaghetti and your tasty vegetarian meal is complete.
For an even classier pesto pasta recipe, substitute Collezione Spaghetti for the truest, most profound al dente vegetarian pasta experience. Organic spaghetti would also raise the bar in this vegetarian recipe. Can't get enough pesto? Our Passion for Pasta has generated a lot of pesto recipes over the years, including some featuring our own Rustic Basil Pesto for an even quicker pasta sauce fix.
Spaghetti with Micro-Kale, Roasted Shallot, Hazelnut Pesto Sauce
Ingredients1 box Barilla Spaghetti
½ cup hazelnuts, peeled
1 shallot, sliced and oven-roasted with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper
2 cups micro-kale
5 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup Castelmagno cheese, grated
Directions
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add spaghetti and cook according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a mortar, use a pestle to smash the hazelnuts with the roasted shallot slices.
3. Add 2 cups of micro-kale and continue to use the pestle to grind everything together. Then, add the 5 tbs. of extra-virgin olive oil and stir it in with the other ingredients.
4. Stir in the ½ cup of grated Castelmagno cheese.
5. Drain the al dente spaghetti pasta, reserving a ½ cup of the pasta cooking water.
6. Combine the cooked spaghetti, the ½ cup of pasta cooking water and all the ingredients from the mortar and stir well to mix everything together.
Recipe and Photo Credit: Chef Lorenzo Boni