Roasted Cauliflower, Kale and Pasta with Hazelnut Pesto
Recipe by Clare Mcelhatton.
Roasted cauliflower, kale and pasta with hazelnut pesto. This version is vegan but a hard cheese (e.g. parmesan) can used instead of Nutritional Yeast.
Depending on the power of your blender, the sauce can be left chunky or made smooth. They’re both good!
Serves 2
· 250g cauliflower
· 100g kale
· 80g pasta (any kind)
· 100g hazelnuts
· Nutritional Yeast
· Stock powder (bouillon)
· Vegetable Oil
· Olive oil
· Salt
· Black pepper
· Truffle oil (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the kale and cook for 1 minutes (with a lid on). Remove the, drain kale and cool down in cold water. When it’s cool, squeeze to remove any excess water. Keep the pan of water for step 4.
3. Cut the cauliflower into bite-size pieces. Wash, drain and add to a bowl. Add 1-2 tbsp of vegetable oil and stir to coat the cauliflower. Spread onto a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 20minutes. After 20 minutes, add half the cooked kale and roast for 5 more minutes.
4. Return the pan used for the kale to the heat and add plenty of salt. When it’s boiling, cook the pasta according to packet instruction.
5. For the ‘pesto’, toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until the skins start to peel off (if they are peeled already, toast until golden). The skins can be removed by rolling the hazelnuts in a clean tea-towel or they can be left on.
6. Add the toasted hazelnuts and half the cooked kale to a blender or food processor. Add 1tsp of stock powder, 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast, plenty of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and blend.
7. When the pasta has cooked, drain and keep the pasta-water. Keep adding pasta water to the hazelnuts and keep blending & adding until you have the consistency desired.
8. If using, add a drizzle of truffle oil to the hazelnut pesto for taste.
9. Combine the roasted cauliflower & kale with the pasta and hazelnut pesto. Taste and add more salt if it needed (but the pasta water should be enough). Heat through so the sauce is warm and add more reserved pasta water if it is a little dry.