A very green pasta to brighten up the cold winter days. For a silkier and brighter green pesto, loads of winter greens (kale! chard!) and scallions get quickly blanched in boiling water before you blend it all up. This pesto is unique in that it does not have any cheese, lemon, or garlic. Instead, we’re pumping up the umami with miso paste and saving the cheese and lemon for topping the pasta at the end. The result is a lighter and brighter sauce with lots of fresh lemon flavor and cheesy bites.
Ingredient highlight
Dark leafy greens! These include kale, chard, broccoli (and all other dark leafy veg). They are rich in calcium, iron, vitamin K, and vitamin C, to name a few.
Servings 4
Prep Time 10 minutes 
Cook Time 12 minutes Ingredients
- 1 large bunch swiss chard or kale, stems removed
- 12-16 oz short pasta*
- 3 scallions trimmed, quartered
- 3 cups loosely packed parsley
- ½ cup raw or toasted walnuts
- 2 tbsp mellow white miso paste
- ¼ tsp kosher salt**
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ cup olive oil
- Lemon wedges
- Grated parmesan
- Black pepper
- Add protein! ~ Top with a soft boiled egg, cooked sausage, shredded chicken, baked salmon, canned tuna, or a scoop of cooked lentils.
- *Because this pasta is pretty saucy, it is best eaten with a spoon, so use a pasta shape you can scoop up with a spoon.
- **If you’re using salted roasted nuts, leave this out and add more at the end if needed to taste.
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil (about 3 quarts) and season with plenty of salt (about 1 tablespoon). Add the greens and scallions and submerge them in the water. Boil for 1 minute, then use tongs to transfer to a large high-speed blender, shaking off the excess water first.
- To the boiling water, add the pasta and cook according to the package instructions. Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water before draining.
- While the pasta cooks, we’ll make the sauce. Pour out any excess water from the blender. Add the parsley, walnuts, miso, salt and pepper. Blend to chop it all up, using a tamper tool to help encourage blending. Scrape down the sides, then turn the blender back on and slowly pour in the olive oil. Continue to blend until smooth. If it’s really not blending, you can add some of the hot pasta water. You should end up with a bright green sauce.
- Drain the pasta (reserving 1 cup before draining) and add it back to the pot along with the green sauce and about ½ cup pasta water. Stir for about 1 minute, adding more pasta water to make it more saucy. The pasta will absorb that sauce as you keep stirring it.
- Serve topped with a generous squeeze of lemon, a very generous amount of parm, and black pepper.
Items you can prep ahead (optional)
- De-stem 1 large bunch swiss chard or kale
- Blanch greens + ½ bunch scallions (trimmed)
- Prep 4 cups loosely packed parsley
- Make the pesto
Substitutions:
- To make gluten-free, use a GF pasta alternative.
- To make vegan, replace the parm with my pumpkin seed parm.
Storage:
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer:
- Pasta already tossed in pesto: up to 4 days in the fridge
- Pesto: up to 6 days in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer
Leftovers + Repurposing:
- Pasta soaks up sauce as it sits, so leftovers will be on the dry side. Add a splash of water to the noodles before you microwave them in 30 second intervals, mixing after each time, until warmed through.
- Top with lemon, parm, etc!
Natalie, what pasta shape did you use in this example? I find when I use what you did, my meals turn out so much better! Thanks!
I used two different shapes because I had two already opened boxes of local pasta that added up to the right amount – cresta de gallo and gnocchetti sardi. Those are not your typical grocery store shapes, so I doubt you’ll find either one, but any short shape will work (orecchiette, cavatappi, fusilli, etc…)