Freshness, liveliness and vivacity. Temperatures are rising and the hot season is quickly depriving me of my strength. I think the best way to fight again the warm temperature is eating the best food. Today, I am going to try a long-standing friend of mine: the kale.

The kale has always been an important part of my diet. In fact, it is mostly grown in my native country, Apulia, a region in Southern Italy. (I strongly advise you to spend your holidays here, if you don’t have any idea about yet). kale is called, in the dialect from Bari, “cole rizz” and it is really a versatile and tasty vegetable: a real superfood! Raw or cooked, rich in vitamins and mineral salts, low in calories, it is a great food against tiredness and weariness. Almonds, a pinch of pink salt, extra virgin olive oil (coming from my Apulia) are the magic ingredients that I am going to put all together to prepare a creamy kale pesto, great spread on toasted bread. I am sure if I have a little of it, I will recharge myself to deal with the crowded streets of London and with busy people who are escaping from this metropolitan atmosphere!

So, let’s keep ourselves with food: we are what we eat!

Recipe

Ingredients for 4 (more or less) people:

• 400 g of kale;
• 100 g of toasted almonds;
• Some parsley leaves (optional);
• 1 garlic clove;
• 100 ml of extra virgin olive oil;
• 2 cherry tomatoes;
• Just enough pink salt;
• Just enough pepper;
• Half a lemon juice.

Instructions:

• Fill a medium-large sauce pan with water and boil it;
• After you remove its stems, place the kale in the sauce pan. Cook it for around 1 minute;
• Drain and cool it;
• In a blender, roughly mince some almonds and walnuts;
• Add to the  kale a clove of garlic, cherry tomatoes, some parsley, a pinch of salt, just enough salt and pepper and some lemon juice. Mince all the ingredients and gradually stir the olive oil until the mixture is thick;

I used this yummy pesto to stuff some bread with olives and I must admit I really appreciated the final result!

My advice:

• Pesto can be saved in a glass container and put in the fridge for up to ten days covered with olive oil on its surface.
• It is great spread on bread or “bruschetta” (Italian toasted bread topped with oil and chopped tomatoes);
• This pesto can be prepared by using the curly kale both raw or cooked, however its properties are often undone with high temperature cooking, while vitamins and minerals will remain completely untouched if you eat it raw, even if its taste is a little bitter.

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