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Last month over the holidays, we hosted Christmas dinner at our house for my husband Jack’s side of the family, and this delicious Kale Puttanesca was one of the side dishes that we served. As soon as I took a bite, I turned to Jack and said, “Yummy! We need to share this on the blog!”
So here it is!
This Kale Puttanesca uses the same approach as our earlier recipe for No-Cook Puttanesca Sauce Over Pasta. It has a wonderful zesty, briny flavor along with fresh tomatoes and grated parmesan cheese, and it really is the perfect complement to jazz up some healthy kale!
What’s also great about this super simple, healthy and delicious dish is that you can make the puttanesca sauce in advance, then just toss it over freshly cooked kale or other greens! It’s great for serving at a large dinner party – and it’s also great to have on hand when you want a healthy side dish any day of the week!
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Kale Puttanesca
The puttanesca sauce can be made well in advance and refrigerated. Just be sure to bring to room temperature before using.
Ingredients
- 1 2–ounce can anchovies
- 2 medium cloves garlic
- Pinch kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons drained capers
- 3 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 1 pound fresh ripe tomato, diced, (OR one 14-ounce can diced tomato with juice)
- 1/4 cup pitted oil cured Italian olives, cut in half
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 head of Kale (about one pound, trimmed 12 ounces more or less), roughly cut up into pieces
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Drain anchovies and put in a cup with water for ten minutes. Drain and dry.
- In a mortar with pestle, add anchovies and mash. Add garlic and a pinch of salt and mash until a paste forms. Add capers and a teaspoon of oil and continue mashing. Add parsley and the rest of the oil and mash back into a loose paste.
- In a small bowl, combine contents of mortar along with tomatoes and olives. Depending on how well you rinsed anchovies, you may or may not need the salt so taste first. Add pepper and reserve this sauce for later. This sauce will not be cooked.
- In a medium pot, heat stock, add kale and cover. Cook five minutes and pull from heat just as the kale starts to turn color.
- Add room temperature uncooked sauce and cheese. Stir and serve.
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You may also like:
No-Cook Puttanesca Sauce Over Pasta
Tuscan Kale Salad with Currants and Feta
Everything sounds so good – Kale plus olives, tomatoes, anchovies, and park; great twist on puttanesca. Love it!
This looks so beautiful! The Parm looks like snow!
This looks amazing, but is there anything that can replace the anchovies so it can be made vegetarian? I may just leave them out, but I don’t want to lose that layer of flavor if I don’t have to.
Hi Maggie – Although the anchovies give it a unique taste, I think you’ll still have a great sauce if you just leave it out! Hope you like the recipe!
Maggie, If you buy anchovies packed in oil you can use the oil to get the same flavor as anchovies.
★★★★★
You had me at puttanesca! Yum.
This is definitely something I can get on board with!! <3
Very interesting twist on puttanesca! Looks delicious.
This looks like the perfect side dish! Delicious!
I just made a puttanesca-based recipe, too (posting next week). I just can’t get enough of those flavors, so I definitely need to try this kale recipe!
What an awesome way to enjoy Kale!! So rustic and of course, gorgeous!
I want this right now…and it is only 8am