Kale Peperoncino Pasta

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I made this kale peperoncino pasta for lunch and meal prep. Peperoncino pasta, as I only recently learnt, is aglio olio (pasta with lots of garlic and olive oil), with the emphasis on the “peperoncino” aka the the chilli peppers. In simpler terms to me, it is spicy aglio olio. I love my pasta hot, as spicy food greatly improves my mood :p As for recipe inspiration, I bought kale as I saw a buy-one-get-one-free sale for chopped kale at NTUC Finest. I seldom buy chopped greens as they are expensive, but I could not say no to a good sale and the fact that the chopped kale was already washed & ready to cook!

More Kale Recipes:

• Kale Chicken Noodle Soup
• Creamy Portobello Mushroom & Kale Pasta
• One-Pan Kale & Eggs
• Kale, Banana & Strawberry Smoothie
• Creamy Mushroom & Kale

Delicious Pasta Recipes:

• Salmon Umeboshi Pasta
• Prosciutto (Parma Ham) Pasta
• Sambal Pasta with Prawns

INGREDIENTS

Pictured key ingredients:

• Chopped curly kale.  Use mostly kale leaves (90%) with a random bits of short stem for better taste and crunch. Wash and spin dry in a salad spinner, if not using chopped and washed kale.
• Local chilli peppers – For me, the local chilli is chilli padi and it is really hot. Depending on your region, it can be Mexican jalapeño (hot!), Chinese screw pepper (medium heat), Indian ghost pepper (insanely hot) or Japanese shishito (mostly not hot). Alternatively, you can use chilli flakes or cut dried chilli.
• Sun-dried tomato salt blend. I added this in my aglio olio for the extra oomph and unami depth. I bought this from iHerb (affiliate link) and it contained very mild heat. You can use any favourite brand of  herbed salt blend or you may also omit it, seasoning the pasta with more salt the authentic Italian way.

Other ingredients (not pictured):

• lots of olive oil
• lots of garlic (chopped or thinly sliced)
• angel hair pasta (or spaghetti)
• fine sea salt
• freshly cracked black pepper
• grated parmesan cheese (fresh or bottled)

STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS

How to Cook Kale Peperoncino Pasta:

1. Heat olive oil in a pan, fry garlic until they turn evenly golden.
2. Add kale, 2 tbsp water and cover for 1 minute to steam and soften the kale.
3. Fry the kale until they are nicely wilted. Add a bit more olive oil and add chilli padi.
4. Add sun-dried tomato salt blend (or your own favourite natural herbed salt blend) and fry briefly until the kale is delicious.
5. Bring a heavily salted pot of water to boil. Add angel hair and cook for 1 minute.
6. Immediately transfer the angel hair to the pan. Mix the pasta with a few spoons of pasta cooking water until the noodles & flavours are well combined.

Last but not least:

Plate the pasta, garnish with freshly cracked pepper, grated parmesan cheese and serve!