Week 7: Kale Pesto

Just when I thought I knew all there was to know about kale, my culinary adventures led me to kale pesto. While I had learned that: 1) steamed kale with nutritional yeast and soy sauce is the next best combination to chocolate and peanut butter; 2) sauteed kale takes way too long to cook to wind up tasting so very mediocre; and 3) the entire kale chip movement is a fraud; I had no idea that kale would make such a divine pesto sauce. And lest you think I'm exaggerating, let it be known that I made this pesto for my mother, who was raised on pretty much every green except those of the kale variety (too hippie for Mississippi perhaps?) and she gave it an enormous thumbs up. Even with all the garlic - another faux pas in the deep South due to its unfortunate ramifications on one's breath - she ate it like she meant it. Either that or she was afraid not to since I was scrutinizing every bite she took like a woman possessed. But she cleaned her plate and polished off the leftovers for lunch the next day, which left me glowing. I mean, it's not every day that a girl can open her mother's universe up to a new vegetable, especially one that has grown so near and dear to said girl's heart. There is just something about kale that reminds me of all that is pure and good, so to find a new way to enjoy it and get to share it with the woman who introduced me to all the major food groups? Well, in my tiny world, it just doesn't get much better than that. Find the recipe here.

Kale pesto, tilapia and roasted beets.