Oh friends. I am so excited to share this recipe with you! I really love ABC’s hit show Shark Tank and a few months ago, I watched the founders of Palmini strike a deal with the sharks and I’ve been curious ever since.
I didn’t buy it right away but I tried it this week and I really like it!
Palmini looks like linguine but it’s not pasta! It’s made entirely out of hearts of palm. I’ll be honest – though I had eaten hearts of palm before, I had to google it to find a picture and description. They come from the center of the cabbage palm tree and look kind of like white asparagus.
The flavor isn’t as neutral as spaghetti squash or cauliflower – it’s a little sour – but I think it’s an amazing option for folks looking alternatives to pasta and rice!
Palmini comes in a can and is packed in water. My first step was draining the liquid from the can and letting the palmini soak in water for about 20 minutes. If you’re worried about the sour taste, you can try soaking it in milk instead of water. I didn’t try this, but several people make the suggestion.
While the palmini was soaking, I made a delicious basil pistachio pesto. It was amazing!
Basil Pistachio Pesto
- 1 cup avocado oil (I used Primal Kitchen brand from Thrive Market*)
- 2 cups basil leaves (fresh)
- 3 cloves garlic (raw)
- 1 heaping cup shelled pistachios
- salt to taste
In a blender, puree the avocado oil and basil.
All the garlic and slowly add pistachios, one small handful at a time to allow for complete blending.
Salt to taste.
*Note* This makes a lot of pesto. I mixed about 1.5 tablespoons of pesto with 1 can of Palmini for this meal. Yes, I ate the entire can. The whole contains 60 calories, no fat, 12 grams of carbs (6 of which are fiber) and 6 grams of protein. The only ingredients are water, salt, hearts of palm and fumaric acid.
One of my favorite things about Palmini is that it’s already cooked! All I had to do was heat it! Once the pesto was done, I drained the soaking Palmini and put it in a skillet without oil. Just an empty pan and a can of palmini. I let it heat up over medium heat and then added 1.5 tablespoons of the pesto and mixed it throughly, coating the Palmini.
I topped it with some chicken sausage but you could make this a vegetarian meal or add any protein you desire – chicken, beef, turkey, fish – whatever your heart desires!
In October 2019, our relationship with Thrive Market changed. They decided to put their marketing dollars in avenues outside of podcasting but we still think they’re a good choice if you’re looking to save money on health & personal care products.