Lia's Kitchen

#VegPower! Quick Kale spaghetti

Posted on January 20, 2018 Updated on January 28, 2018

Getting down your greens is a very important step of keeping healthy during winter! Kale is a member of the brassica family and has great nutritional value. From high levels of iron, vitamin K, C and A, to anti inflammatory benefits it’s a food both accessible, locally grown and often organic.

Kale can help you increase your greens intake in easy and tasty ways. Make a pledge now to eat more veg any time of the year. Follow the #vegpower campaign for inspiration.

Here’s an easy recipe to get you started – Kale with spaghetti. When Zöe Rozellar walked into our kitchen with this idea of cooking kale it opened so many possibilities! You can also enjoy the kale as a side, for breakfast with egg (Zöe’s favourite) or with rice/couscous/quinoa. You may also add raw or cooked mushrooms to this dish – the red elf cup mushrooms from Blaencamel market stalls were a treat with this dish.

Ingredients (2-4 portions depending on starter or main size)

• 300g organic kale
• 1Tbsp. Sesame seeds
• 250g spaghetti
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp. Paprika
• 1/2 tsp. Ground nutmeg or more
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• 250g goats cheese or feta cheese

Preparation (up to 30min)

1. Wash the kale, pull leaves off the harder stalk (if not tender) and drain.
2. In a big baking tray dress in 1/2 tsp salt, the sesame and a couple of generous lugs of olive oil. Massage well so that oil and salt dress all leaves.
3. Bring water to the boil for pasta adding salt and oil. And preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
4. At the same time you start boiling the pasta, add the kale in the oven after you cover the tray tightly with aluminum foil.
5. The kale should bake at least for the duration of your pasta preparation.
6. Once the pasta boils and is in the colander, return the pot to heat, cover its base with olive oil and add the two cloves of garlic roughly chopped.
7. Lower the heat and stir fry the garlic till softer – a couple of minutes – taking care not to burn.
8. Add the paprika, nutmeg and 1/2 tsp of pepper and stir fry for about half a minute or so.
9. Add the spaghetti and a pinch of salt. Toss well to dress in spices.
10. Remove the kale from oven, add to pot and stir well.
11. Remove dish from heat and add the crumbled cheese.
12. For a vegan version add Dukkah or roasted and crushed hazelnuts instead of cheese.