A very easy summer dish with fresh juicy tomatoes, garlic, and kale. The finishing touch is a topping of crispy bread crumbs and Parmesan. Use any kale here, but if you think it might be too tough to soften with a quick massage, you can always cook the kale in the last few minutes of cooking the pasta. Serve with a salad, maybe even a kale Caesar salad that shares some of the pasta ingredients.
Ingredients
- 3 cups kale (stripped from stalk, chopped into ¼-inch pieces, rinsed, and dried)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Salt
- 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic (use a garlic press if you have one)
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 3 anchovy fillets, finely chopped (optional, but tasty)
- 1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
- 12 ounces spaghetti pasta
Topping
- 0.33 cup panko bread crumbs
- ¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
How to Make It
- Place the kale in a wide pasta bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and two pinches of salt. Massage the kale until it’s glistening and reduced in size. Chop the kale additionally if any pieces are not minced.
- Add the garlic to the kale, along with the lemon zest and anchovies. Mix in well and top with the tomatoes and a few pinches of salt.
- In a small bowl, mix the panko, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and 2 teaspoons of the oil. Set aside for topping.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the pasta according to the package directions. (Make sure there’s plenty of salt in the water to flavor the pasta.) Save ½ cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta, and quickly mix the hot pasta with the kale mixture, along with the reserved pasta water and remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Stir well and top with the bread crumb mixture. Serve hot.