Fall
Pinkalicious Pasta
- Prep time 30 minutes
- Cook time 55 minutes
- Serves 4
Author Notes
This recipe is excerpted from "Veg Forward" the 2025 Book of the Year in the Food52 Cookbook Club. Follow us @f52cookbookclub.
The beets and hazelnuts in the vivacious kale pesto for this pasta will turn it a stunning shade of pink. It’s gorgeous and special enough for a dinner party but also weeknight-friendly if you’ve made the pesto ahead of time, since all you need to do to get it on the table is boil the pasta and heat it through with the pasta. You can roast the beets and blanch the kale ahead of time, whizzing up the pesto at the last minute, or make it completely ahead of time. — Susan Spungen
—Food52
Test Kitchen Notes
Taken from Veg Forward: Super-Delicious Recipes that Put Produce at the Center of Your Plate by Susan Spungen. Copyright © 2023 by Susan Spungen. Used by permission of Harper Celebrate. harpercollinsfocus.com. Credit on all photos: Susan Spungen —The Editors
Ingredients
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1
medium beet (about 6 ounces), trimmed, peeled, and quartered
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3
garlic cloves, smashed
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3 tablespoons
extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
-
Kosher salt
-
Freshly ground pepper
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3 ounces
(heaping 1/2 cup) raw hazelnuts
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3 ounces
(1/2 bunch) dinosaur kale, stemmed
-
1/2 cup
grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese (3/4 ounce), plus more for serving
-
Pinch
red pepper flakes
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1 pound
rigatoni
-
1 watermelon radish for serving (optional)
Directions
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Lay a piece of foil on a small baking sheet and place the beet and garlic on top. Drizzle with enough olive oil to lightly coat, and season with salt and pepper. Gather the foil into a pouch, sealing it well to trap the steam, and place the pan in the oven. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes, until the beet shows no resistance to the tip of a paring knife. Open the pouch and let cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.
- Add the hazelnuts to the baking sheet and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the skins start to split and flake off and they smell toasty. Transfer to a small bowl and cover with a folded dish towel. After about 10 minutes, unfold the towel and transfer the nuts to the towel; fold it over and rub vigorously to remove the skins. They won’t all come off, and that’s OK. Return them to one end of the baking sheet, and tip it at a 45-degree angle. The nuts will roll to one end, leaving the flaky skins behind. You can lift the nuts with a bench scraper to help the process along. Set aside a handful for the garnish.
- Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil and have a bowl of ice water standing by. Add the kale and boil just until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes, then use tongs to transfer the kale to the ice water. Drain and squeeze out all the water with your hands. You should have about 1/2 cup.
- Combine the beet, garlic, kale, and the 3 tablespoons oil in a food processor and pulse until smooth with just a little texture, adding more oil if needed to loosen. Add the hazelnuts, cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and red pepper flakes and pulse until the nuts are roughly chopped. Transfer to a bowl. (You’ll have about 1 1/4 cups.)
- Cook the pasta in well-salted water until al dente. Scoop up a cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pot and stir in about half of the pesto, adding enough pasta water to loosen (about 1/2 cup). Season with salt and pepper to taste and divide among four bowls. Roughly chop the reserved hazelnuts and sprinkle over top. Shave the radish (if using) over the pasta and serve with more cheese on the side.
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