Kale Pasta Salad

Kale Pasta Salad

Note for vegans. In the kale dressing sub the Parmesan cheese with nutritional yeast. Skip the feta in the salad or sub it with vegan cheese.

Ingredients

Serves 6

½ lb / 8 oz / 226 gr whole wheat rotini pasta

2 cups chopped kale

½ cup black olive, drained and cut in half

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

¼ cup crumbled Feta (optional)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Kale dressing

1 cup chopped kale

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 small shallot, peeled

¼ cup Parmesan-Reggiano cheese, grated (optional)

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoons lemon juice (optional)

Directions

Bring a large pot a salted water to a boil. Add garlic and shallot and boil for 3 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of kale and cook for another ten seconds. Don’t overcook. Working quickly, use a slotted spoon or strainer to fish the kale, garlic and shallot from the water and transfer them to the bowl of a food processor.

Puree the ingredients, together with the Parmesan-Reggiano cheese and water (add more water to thin out if needed) until it reaches a creamy consistency.

Return water to a boil and cook pasta according to package instructions (al dente); drain into a colander and run under cold water for a couple of minutes to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over high heat, add the remaining 2 cups of kale all at once and stir-fry until just wilted and tender, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine pasta, tomatoes, black olives, stir-fried kale and feta (if using). Stir in the kale dressing and toss well. Taste and adjust with salt if needed.

You can serve this pasta salad immediately or you can also keep it in the fridge and serve it the next day.