Pesto: Two-Ways

K is for Kale

I made this loaf of bread two days before planning to leave the state for over a week. I always seem to do things like that - make huge portions of delicious food right before I have to leave town. Silver lining: I'll have plenty to snack on during the flight.

I'm pretty stoked on this bread for a few reasons. First - it's so delicious! Second, it's healthy. Love that. Lastly, the pesto portion of this recipe was another one of my kitchen experiments. 

I saw this recipe on Baked by Rachel and immediately Evernoted it. Hers looks SO fantastic and intricately laced with pesto.. irresistible. Only problem I had was I didn't have much basil, only about a quarter cup. What I did have, however, was a bunch of kale. My savior. I figured, basil's green...kale's green...totally interchangeable! What's the worst that could happen?

Further, Rachel's recipe doesn't call for nuts in the pesto. I actually really enjoy nuts in my pesto (what?) so I added some sesame seeds and pistachios. Those just happened to be what I had on hand at the time.

This experiment did not end in disaster. I LOVED the kale-basil-weird-mix-of-nutseeds pesto variation! I suggest you guys try it, or even better, experiment with something new and let me know how it ends up! 

I didn't put as much pesto in my bread than I probably could've, so I had tons left over. I hear pesto, I think pasta. So that's what I made. Whole wheat spaghetti to be exact. 

I also switched up the pesto a little to vary the tastes a tad bit (since I have to eat a ton of pesto in about three days) by adding juice from half a lemon, freshly ground black pepper, and more parmesan. I also added a little of the leftover pasta water from the spaghetti to thin out the pesto and cooked it with the spaghetti for a few minutes to meld all the flavors.

I really recommend these modifications–and experimenting in the kitchen in general! Enjoy!

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