We love a good stir-fried choy sum, but this choy sum recipe is a little different. An eccentric. Born of the desire to explore the hitherto under-explored possibilities of the overflow of Chinese greens in our market right now.
Our usual employment of such vegetables usually involves either a hot pan of garlic and oil, a bowl of noodle soup, or a confluence of ginger, scallion, and soy.
But what if you treated it—the “it” being, in this case, choy sum or “yu choy”—like a broccoli rabe, or any other normal everyday supermarket leafy green?
What if you zapped it in your shiny new Nutri Bullet (after a lifetime of overly cheap, mediocre blenders, this thing has been a godsend) and made it into a pesto?
I roasted these leafies in the oven until the stems were tender and the leaves bore a resemblance to that most faddy of foods—the kale chip. Then I pureed it with lemon juice and garlic into a kind of pesto.
Combined with cream, sweet onions, crunchy sunflower seeds, and fettuccine, it’s just about as far away from those Chinese rice plates and soups as you can get.
By the way, I fully expected this to be a massive failure.
It wasn’t. Why make “kale pesto” when you can use this infinitely sweeter, more tender vegetable? Without the weird and unpleasant irony teeth coating of spinach, or the bitterness of broccoli rabe? If you find yourself struggling to find new uses for your choy sum, give this one a try.
Recipe Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for your pasta. Keep the choy sum whole and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Roast until just starting to char, 15 minutes, turning the veggies once, halfway through baking.
While that’s happening, cook your pasta until 1 minute less than fully cooked. Set aside a cup of pasta water and drain the rest.
Transfer your roasted choy sum to a food processor with the juice of half a lemon, a clove of garlic, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Pulse until well blended.
In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil and add the onion and 2 cloves chopped garlic. Cook down until golden and tender, 7 minutes. Add the cream, pasta, choy sum mixture, lemon zest, and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir all together. Loosen it up with some of the reserved pasta water if necessary, and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan and toasted sunflower seeds.
Try some of our other Chinese fusion pasta recipe which include Spicy Numbing Cacio e Pepe, or Soy Sauce Butter Pasta with Shrimp and Shiitakes they are both eclectic and so good!
Creamy Roasted Choy Sum Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- ½ pound choy sum (225g, washed thoroughly)
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- ½ pound fettucine (any long pasta will work)
- ½ lemon (juiced)
- 3 cloves garlic (divided)
- ½ cup onion (finely chopped)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- a big pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- ½ cup toasted sunflower seeds (substitute toasted pine nuts, walnuts, pecans, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for your pasta. Keep the choy sum whole and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast until just starting to char, 15 minutes, turning the veggies once, halfway through baking. While that’s happening, cook your pasta until 1 minute less than fully cooked. Set aside a cup of pasta water and drain the rest.
- Transfer your roasted choy sum to a food processor with the juice of half a lemon, a clove of garlic, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Pulse until well blended.
- In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon o33f olive oil and add the onion and 2 cloves chopped garlic. Cook down until golden and tender, 7 minutes. Add the cream, pasta, choy sum mixture, lemon zest, and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir all together. Loosen it up with some of the reserved pasta water if necessary, and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve sprinkled with Parmesan and toasted sunflower seeds.
I bought some choy sum at the farmers market today for the first time with instructions to saute or stir fry and a promise that it is very good. So, after I got home and learned the name of my purchase I stumbled on your website and already copied down several recipes I am excited to try.
So glad you found us, Vickie! You could try this recipe, or this one: https://thewoksoflife.com/yu-choy-recipe/
I used regular basil pesto for this but I was happily surprised with the result. We usually have our pesto the common italian way and this was a nice change. Thank you.
You’re welcome!
I’ve been eyeballing this recipe for a very long time since I love yu choy. Finally got around to making it tonight and … WOW. That pesto is really something special that I suspect I will use in other ways as well. I had closer to 3/4 lbs of yu choy so did need the cup of pasta water to loosen it up. Next time (and there definitely will be a next time) the extra yu choy probably will be sliced and added at the end of sauteing the onion and garlic. I added some cooked shrimp at the end. I’m still licking my lips!
Thank you for another winner!
So glad you liked this one, okiegirl! And that you’ve bubbled it back up––I’d quite forgotten about it but I’ll have to make it again soon!
Looks delicious and healthy. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays Blog Hop.
Looks amazing and gorgeous photos! I’m sharing your pasta recipe in my Friday Features… thanks for linking up to Inspire Me Monday.
Thanks for featuring us, Maryann! Looking forward to future Friday Features and Inspire Me Monday’s
This is brilliant, and I wouldn’t have thought of it myself! I’m sure it’s delicious and healthy too.
I recently upgraded to VPS too. I didn’t plan it out well and did the upgrade right in the middle of the day thinking it would be seamless or fast or, well, I just didn’t really think. My site was down for about one painful hour, but all is well now. I hope your technical problems are (mostly) over, and congratulations on the growth!
This looks gorgeous! I love choy sum, but mostly eat it stir-fried or steamed. Never thought of pairing it with pesto pasta. :’)
Hey Tyler, us too! I’ve never done anything more adventurous with choy sum, and it was really good.
This is all sorts of genius! Love it.
Aw thanks Adelina!