Kale pesto linguine with roasted tomatoes & crispy prosciutto

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Pesto – a student staple! But it doesn’t have to be a cheap and oily jarred version. Try this homemade pesto with kale and walnuts … stir through linguine and top with smoky roasted tomatoes and salty prosciutto for a quick and wholesome mid-week meal.

A closeup of a white bowl of kale pesto linguine with cutlery on a blue and white checked tea towel.

I’m sure that any of you who have lived away from home as students made yourself some ‘interesting’ dishes when you first started cooking for yourselves.

I certainly did! Let’s just say they mostly consisted of bland concoctions involving things like cheap packets of pasta and tins of tomatoes and tuna … and not much else! (And don’t worry, I won’t tell you the story of the maggots my housemates and I found in the bottom of the bin when we returned from our Christmas holidays. Or at least I won’t dwell on it too much. Let’s just say they got boiling water poured all over them, but they stank out the house, so they then got thrown into the garden where they were promptly snowed on … leaving us a lovely reminder of our grubbiness when the snow melted!)

I know, I know, maggot stories are not very befitting of a food blog. I’m not making myself any new friends here.

So getting back to my point, then (yes, Helen, you’d better …), another of my go-to student recipes was pasta with pesto. Yup, the pre-made jarred variety – runny and made with cheap oil.

Basically, nothing like a good homemade pesto like the one in my recipe today. And not only is my pesto nice and chunky and homemade, but I’ve added the veggie-of-the-moment, kale, to make it super healthy and tasty. Throw in some basil, a handful of walnuts (cheaper than pinenuts), a big garlic clove, a good squeeze of lemon and a generous drizzle of olive oil, whizz it all up in a food processor and you’ve got a gorgeous pesto in seconds.

A white bowl of kale pesto linguine with cutlery on a blue and white checked tea towel with a lemon and plates in the background.

Nothing particularly unusual here. Maybe you’ve made pesto and pasta loads of times before. But have you ever added roasted tomatoes and crispy prosciutto? No, I didn’t think so. Well, trust me, these two humble additions take this classy linguine meal to a whole other level. The juicy, smoky tomatoes really tickle the tastebuds and go perfectly with the pesto, as do the crispy mouthfuls of salty prosciutto.

I think the key to making this quick pesto linguine great is to make sure the pesto is runny enough. When you whizz it up in the food processor, add enough water to make it the consistency of a thick-ish dip. Then when you stir the pesto through the hot cooked pasta, add a bit of the pasta cooking water to loosen up the dish if you think it needs it.

I reckon this would work just as well with salmon or chicken instead of the prosciutto… or it could easily become a vegetarian meal if you skipped the meat and threw on more tomatoes.

Bellissimo! 🙂

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A white bowl of kale pesto linguine with cutlery on a blue and white checked tea towel.
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Kale pesto linguine with roasted tomatoes & crispy prosciutto

I've always loved a good homemade pesto, and with this one you have the added satisfaction of knowing that it's made with super healthy kale and walnuts. Stir through linguine, then top with delicious roasted tomatoes and crispy prosciutto for a perfect balance of flavours.
Prep: 12 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 42 minutes
Servings: 2

Ingredients 
 

for the pesto

  • 3.5 ounces kale, washed and with the tough stalks discarded
  • smallish bunch of basil, at least 25 or so leaves
  • 1/4 cup walnuts, just a good handful
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • 1.75 ounces parmesan cheese, grated
  • a couple of good squeezes of lemon juice, add more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons good quality olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

rest of ingredients

  • 5 ounces cherry tomatoes, weight including the vine – or about 100 grams/3.5 ounces off the vine
  • 6 slices prosciutto
  • 7 ounces dried linguine pasta

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 180C/355F.
  • Put a large pot of water on to boil, then blanch the kale for about a minute. Remove it with a slotted spoon (so that you can re-use the water for the pasta), transfer to a colander, rinse under a cold tap and then squeeze out most of the water.
  • In a food processor, blitz the kale with the basil leaves, walnuts, garlic, parmesan, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper until you have a chunky paste.
  • Slowly add a little water (at least 2 tablespoons) and pulse until your pesto is the right consistency (about the same consistency as a dip).
  • Spray a baking tray lightly with oil, then arrange the tomatoes on the vine on it with the slices of prosciutto (it doesn’t matter if the meat is overlapping slightly). Bake for about 10 minutes, turning the meat half way through the cooking time.
  • Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions in the water that you blanched the kale in. Drain, reserving some of the cooking water, then stir the pesto through the pasta. Loosen up the dish with a little of the cooking water.
  • Serve the pasta out into bowls, topping with the tomatoes and prosciutto. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 824kcal, Carbohydrates: 84g, Protein: 29g, Fat: 41g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Cholesterol: 32mg, Sodium: 589mg, Potassium: 754mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 5495IU, Vitamin C: 76.1mg, Calcium: 411mg, Iron: 3.2mg
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A white bowl of kale pesto linguine with cutlery on a blue and white checked tea towel with a title below it for Pinterest.

About Helen Schofield

Don't expect to find anything fussy or complicated here. Just QUICK, EASY & (mostly!) HEALTHY recipes from the Mediterranean and beyond. ENJOY!

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30 Comments

  1. OK, I had to skip over the entire paragraph containing the “m” word because they thought alone terrifies me and turns my stomach….!!! I literally think I could reach through the screen and give you a hug right about now. I am so NOT into Kale but they were on sale so I bought a couple of bunches and I’ve been contemplating what I can make with them. I have everything I need to make this except prosciutto, I’m thinking crumbled bacon instead. Dinner tonight! Sharing!

    1. Virtual hug accepted! 🙂 The last time I cooked with kale I wasn’t that bowled over, so I wanted to make something with it that I’d really like.
      Hope you enjoy your meal (bacon will be fine!) and sorry for grossing you out so much – I knew it was a gamble to mention ‘that word’!

  2. Oh God…maggots…those little f*ckers gross me out like nobody’s business! I once threw something out into the garbage in the garage in the summer…like raw meat or something…and I went to dump something else out a few days later and I literally almost fainted!!! I took that gigantic garbage can and soaked everything in it with bleach. I felt a little awful that I killed an entire generation…but hey those things were probablly going to eat me one night 🙂
    Anyhow,,,great recipe as always love. I love how the kale keeps the pesto super green!

    1. lol … oh my goodness, that’s just like what happened to me! And as you don’t seem to mind maggot stories, let me tell you another one… I once cooked some rice that had been in my cupboard for quite a long time in the summer, but when I drained it I noticed some of the rice was a different colour. You guessed it, there were maggots in the rice! Put me off rice for aaaages, and I still think about it occasionally when I cook it now …
      Sorry, Mila, bet I’ve really grossed you out now!!

  3. Heh–“interesting” recipes are the defining element of my college years. You’re totally right, though – my college self would have loved making this pasta, and heck, I’m really looking forward to making this kale pesto now!

  4. Yeah I remember these times, canned tuna and pasta 🙂 Love homemade pesto, much better than the store bought version! Need to make this pasta, looks great!