Kale & Basil Pesto Caprese Pasta Salad - nuts

Method

• For the pesto:
• 1.
• Toast pine nuts in a small skillet over medium heat until lightly browned.
• Set aside to cool.
• 2.
• Place cooled pine nuts, basil, kale, garlic, salt, pepper, and Parmesan in a food processor and pulse once or twice to combine.
• 3.
• Stream a few tablespoons of olive oil into pesto while food processor is running, until youve reached the desired consistency.
• You may not need all of the olive oil.
• I generally use between 1/2 and 2/3 cup to get it to the right thickness.
• For the pasta salad:
• 4.
• Cook pasta in very salty water, according to package instructions for al dente.
• 5.
• Drain pasta, put it into a bowl and toss with pesto.
• Set aside to cool.
• 6.
• When pasta has cooled to room temperature, toss it with the tomatoes, mozzarella, salt and pepper.
• Place in a covered container in the fridge to chill for at least an hour or until youre ready to serve.
• 7.
• Just before youre ready to serve, place the prosciutto on a baking sheet (I like to use my non-stick baking mat so the prosciutto comes up easily).
• Bake at 400 F for 5-7 minutes or until prosciutto is nice and crispy.
• Prosciutto tends to crisp up pretty quickly, so keep an eye on it.
• 8.
• Let the crispy prosciutto cool to room temperature and slice it as best you canit will crumble a bit, but thats OK!
• 9.
• When youre ready to serve, toss the crispy prosciutto pieces with the rest of the pasta salad.
• If the pasta salad is a little dry, toss it with some more pesto or a drizzle of olive oil.
• Serve immediately.
• Notes: 1.
• I love the bitterness that fresh kale lends the pesto, but to tone it down a bit just blanch the kale before adding it to the pesto to take some of the bite out of it.
• 2.
• Wait to add the prosciutto until youre ready to serve so that it doesnt get soggy.