Roasted Beet Noodles with Pesto and Baby Kale
Try this Roasted Beet Noodles with Pesto and Baby Kale recipe, or contribute your own.
Try this Roasted Beet Noodles with Pesto and Baby Kale recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 5.86213333333333 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 1.24653333333333 g
- Fiber 1.91466664632161 g
- Protein 1.63613333333333 g
- Saturated Fat 0.16268 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (80g)
- Sodium 43.62 mg
- Sugar 3.94746668701172 g
- Trans Fat 0.08424 g
- Calories 38 calories
Step-by-step
- Set the oven to 425 degrees.
- On a baking sheet, spread out the beet noodles and coat with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.
- Bake for 5-10 minutes or until beets are cooked to al dente or your preference in doneness.
- While the noodles cook, combine all of the ingredients for the pesto into a food processor and pulse until creamy.
- Taste and adjust, if needed.
- Once beets are cooked, toss with pesto and the kale.
- Serve.
Basil does the structural lifting in this dish, providing both the herbaceous base for the pesto and the vibrant color contrast against the dark root vegetables. Without enough basil leaves packed firmly into the measuring cup, the resulting sauce turns oily and watery rather than emulsified.
Preparing spiralized root vegetables demands careful attention to hardware. Standard spiralizers often struggle with dense raw beets, yielding uneven ribbons that burn on the edges before the centers soften. A sharp blade is mandatory. Spread the resulting strands in a single layer on the baking sheet at 425 degrees. Crowding the pan traps moisture and steams the vegetables into mush instead of roasting them to an al dente texture.
Determining doneness requires sensory observation rather than gadgetry. Piercing a thick strand with the tip of a paring knife provides the standard test; resistance should match that of al dente pasta. Pull the pan from the oven immediately once that threshold is met to prevent further softening.
Pine nuts provide richness in the pesto emulsion, but toasted walnuts make an effective substitute at a one-to-one volume ratio if supplies run short.
