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July 25, 2020 Meatless

Collard Green Pesto with Cashews

collard green pesto with cashews

Followers of my cooking can confidently say that I love complicated (and spicy) recipes. So, for this collard green pesto I’m keeping things basic. Being of Black American and Italian descent, this combination was made for me. Ha! But really, I’ve always wanted to do more with collard greens other than my usual Sautéed Collard Greens. Something pesto-like was bound to happen.

raw collard greens

Ever since I heard of pine mouth syndrome (a horrible side effect from eating tainted pine nuts), I decided no pesto recipe of mine will use pine nuts. Someone I know came down with pine mouth syndrome and it completely ruined the week of her wedding … with a metallic taste overcoming her mouth every time she ate or drank. It was like being force fed pennies. Instead, I feel cashews are a better – and safer – fit for collard greens. 

Because collards are not actually an herb, collard green pesto is more successful as a sandwich spread where it can interact with other sandwich fixings. They don’t have a ton of flavor on their own. The herby perfume-like nature of basil pesto makes it enough to stand alone on a plate of pasta. However, I imagine collard green pesto out-performs traditional pesto in nutritional value. 

collard green pest with other sandwich fixings

Collard green pesto on a meatless sandwich

Collard green pesto with red onions, avocado, cucumber, poblano pepper, bacon, and cheddar cheese on multigrain bread.

For creative sandwich ideas, be sure to check out my two previous posts about sandwich making Vegetarian Sandwiches and Healthier Club Sandwiches. As a sandwich maker at one of my few actual food service jobs in college, sandwich making kinda stuck with me. 

Hummus sandwich with collard green pesto

Hummus sandwich with cucumber, red onion, poblano pepper, swiss cheese, avocado and collard green pesto on multigrain bread.

Two important steps in this collard green pesto is removing the stems and blanching the greens. Cooking raw collard greens briefly in salted boiling water removes their natural bitterness, seasons them a bit, and gives them a good natural cleaning. Another reason not to skip this step is because these greens shrink down quite a bit. Blanched, chopped greens will yield a different amount of raw greens. And the stems … they’re just too tough. Save the stems to use in a vegetable stock. 

Ingredients

  • 3 cups collard greens, blanched and chopped
  • 1 cup chopped parsley, firmly packed
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • ½ cup cashews
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground

 

Instructions

  1. To blanch the collard greens, fill two large pots of water half way. Add salt to one and place it on the stove. Add a tray of ice to the other pot  and place it on the counter.
  2. Meanwhile, remove the stems from the collard greens using a paring knife. Roughly chop the stemmed collards into smaller pieces, about 1/4 the size of the leaves.
  3. In batches, submerge the chopped collards in the boiling water. The water temperature will drop, so bring the water back to a boil and cook the greens for 2 to 3 minutes. Their color should be bright green.  Using a fine mesh strainer, transfer the cooked collard greens to the iced water to stop the cooking. 
  4. Finely chop the blanched collards until you have 3 cups. 
  5. Add the grated parmesan, parsley, olive oil, garlic, cashews, salt and black pepper to a food processor. Pulse everything until your desired texture is achieved. 

Yield: 3 1/2 cups

collard green pesto in a whole what pita

Categories: Meatless Tags: collard green pesto, pesto

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  1. Anna-Maria Rowland Winnifred says

    August 23, 2020 at 11:56 am

    Good For You!!!! Important someone shed light on the subject matter. Anna-Maria Rowland Winnifred

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Was given collard green duty by my bf @brothashake Was given collard green duty by my bf @brothashakespeare because ya can't just have blackeyed peas alone. No ham hock and no smoked turkey happening here. Instead I usually use a smoked pork chop for something I call "lean greens".

Well, there was no smoked pork chops at the store so I made a kick ass stock yesterday with regular pork chops, liquid smoke, and adding tons of onions, garlic and some other key secret ingredients. Complete Lean Greens recipe will be up on the blog soon. Until then ... Happy New Year 🎉🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥬🥬🥬🥬🥬
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All the sandwich lovers ... get with the search bar on my blog and type "sandwiches"

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Haven't left Astoria in 9 months and it's all good in the hood. I've found ways to thrive in this pandemic.
💪🏻🤸🏻‍♂️🏃🏼
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It's another frittata kind of morning with balsami It's another frittata kind of morning with balsamic and garlic sautéed zucchini and cherry tomatoes, blanched broccoli, goat cheese, shredded Swiss, homegrown chives and thyme. No meat here. 
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