Kale & Basil Pesto Caprese Pasta Salad

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 you’ve 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 you’re ready to serve.

7. Just before you’re 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 can—it will crumble a bit, but that’s OK!

9. When you’re 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 you’re ready to serve so that it doesn’t get soggy.