Kale Pesto

"A HEALTHY PESTO?! You've got to be kale-ing me."

HEY YOU. It's January 2021 and you're ready for a change in eating habits after all the indulging at Christmas. Am I right?

You don't need to give up delicious pasta dishes, especially with this fool-proof, mouth-watering Kale Pesto recipe *winks*.

This recipe was inspired by one from my WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers) recipe book. But the recipe just seemed too plain... It seemed like it was missing... FLAVOUR.

So I re-created the recipe to make it my own and I'm not one to brag but it worked. This pesto is the one. It's the pesto you've been longing your entire life.

This pesto can not only be used for pasta dishes, but also as a base for homemade pizzas!

Kale can be quite dry in nature. So it's important that you add the given amount of olive oil (or a little more if you like). Check out the tip below to find out how to keep your kale nice and moist for your dish.

TIPS

- When using the pesto in a dish, I would mix through half a tablespoon of olive oil to give it a little more moisture

---

INGREDIENTS

400g kale, de-stemmed

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 tbsp crushed garlic

1 handful of fresh basil leaves

5 tbsp olive oil

1 cup pecorino, grated

1 handful of rocket, to serve (optional)

Juice from 1 large lemon or 2 small ones

Salt

METHOD

1. De-stem the kale and rinse under cold water.

2. Bring a large pot of water (half-filled) to a boil, add salt and put the kale into the pot. Cover the pot and allow the kale to boil for about 5 minutes or softened.

3. Drain the kale in a colander and rinse again with cold water to cool it down. Squeeze out all of the water with your hands and put into a food processor. You might need to add the kale in at separate times as the food processor may not be able to break down everything at once!

4. Process all of the kale until it has been chopped finely. Then add the olive oil and lemon juice. Process again until well combined.

5. Then add in the garlic, pine nuts, basil and pecorino. Process again until everything is processed and well combined.

6. Serve immediately with pasta, or you can even use it as a pizza base! Alternatively, you can also freeze the pesto for up to one month.

Tomato Chutney

Perfect as a substitute for tomato ketchup

The tastiest tomato chutney that can be eaten with practically ANYTHING.

We're talking sandwiches, wraps, spring rolls, samosas, sausage rolls, chicken, breadcrumbed tofu, salmon, burgers, cheese boards... I could go on forever...

Since I made this chutney, I've had it with almost every savoury dish. It just adds that little bit of oomph to your food!

TIPS

- I would definitely use a food processor for this as you will need the garlic, onion and ginger to be super fine for the chutney!

- I would also make the chutney 24 hours before you plan to serve it so it can thicken properly.

---

INGREDIENTS

6 tomatoes, chopped

6 garlic cloves, crushed

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, chopped

1 1/2 medium red onion, chopped

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2-3 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp chilli powder (or you can use chilli flakes but powder is better!)

1 tsp white wine vinegar

240g/250g light brown soft sugar

1 tbsp salt (or more if you feel it needs it!)

METHOD

1. In a food processor, blend together the ginger, garlic and onion. Process them until they are super fine (this should take around 1-2 minutes). Set aside in a small bowl.

2. In a medium/large pot on low heat, throw in the chopped tomatoes until they kind of fall apart and become mushy. Put the lid on the pot. This should take around 20 minutes. Once the tomatoes have cooked, pour them into another bowl and set aside.

3. In the same pot, cook the garlic, ginger and onion that you processed (on medium heat) until the raw smell of onion and garlic disappears. Use a spatula to continuously stir them around to prevent them sticking to the pan.

4. Add in the tomatoes and mix for another couple of minutes.

5. Then add in the garam masala, chilli powder, vinegar, and salt. Mix with a spatula for another minute or two.

6. Add in the sugar and mix for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer the chutney to a bowl and allow it to completely cool before refrigerating.

7. By refrigerating the chutney, allows it to thicken naturally. I recommend making the chutney 24 hours ahead of when you plan to serve/eat it!

Pan-banging Milo Cookies

For those who don't know what Milo is... you're missing out

Milo – drinking chocolate that changes your life.

I believe this magical powder actually originated in Australia, New South Wales – despite it being a hit in Asia. Fun fact – I lived in Singapore for 10 years, and this is where I was introduced to Milo.

Since moving to the UK, I've not heard many people rave/talk about Milo, or drink it. It's about time I introduced this delicious powder to all you UK peeps and opened your eyes to a whole new world of chocolate.

Now Milo is traditionally a powder which you mix with hot/cold milk, condensed milk, or hot water to create a chocolate-y drink. However, of course, I've changed the game and created COOKIES out of them.

Not just ordinary cookies, PAN-BANGING cookies. Now some of you have asked what 'pan-banging' is. It's literally in the name. Banging your pan to create those ripple effects on the edges of your cookies. You don't need to use this method to create these cookies, but I've written instructions below on how to effectively 'pan-bang' your cookies in case you felt like experimenting.

---

Makes 10 cookies

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Milo

1 cup plain flour

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 175ºC fan, and prep 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour and Milo. Then add in baking powder and whisk until everything is well combined.

3. In a separate bowl with an electric mixer or manual whisk, whip the butter until soft and smooth and pale in colour.

4. Add in caster sugar and brown sugar. Continue whisking until well combined. Scrape sides of the bowl when need be.

5. Add in vanilla and the egg and whisk everything together until a smooth batter forms.

6. Pour the wet batter into the dry and mix everything together using a spatula or wooden spoon.

7. Spoon batter onto the baking tray (I'd say a heaped tablespoon per cookie). Bake for 11 minutes. (If you want to pan-bang, see instructions below)

8. While cookies are fresh out of the oven and hot, sprinkle a little more Milo powder on top of the cookies.

9. Allow the cookies to cool completely before moving, eating or transferring them – they will be extremely soft and gooey when hot!

HOW TO PAN BANG

1. In this case, the cookies are set to bake for a total of 11 minutes. Once placing your cookies into the oven, prep a surface in the kitchen with a tea towel (this is where you're going to bang the pan).

2. Once the timer reaches 4 minutes, take the tray of cookies out and bang them on your prepped kitchen surface reasonably hard. You want to do this about 8-10 times. You'll see the outer of the cookie disperse a little. Once you do this, place them back into the oven.

3. Once the timer then reaches around 3 minutes, take the cookies out again and pan-bang them just like you did the first time (8-10 times). Place back into the oven and repeat two more times for the last two minutes of baking time.

4. Once the timer goes off, take the cookies out and allow them to cool completely before moving/transferring.