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I had chicory/escarole (I can’t tell the difference) twice so far in my farm share and neither time had I found a recipe that was anything above barely tolerable. Bitter greens are always easier to cook with if you blanch them first, but I always feel like I’m losing all the nutrients, and hence, the reason you’d eat greens in the first place. I was about to give up all hope and just turn to the Southern style of greens which consists of cooking with bacon, ham, or other pork parts. However, I was reading Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much is True and was inspired.  In it, a character talks about eating lentils and escarole as prepared back in the old country (Sicily). I thought, “I love Italian; I bet this will work.” Of course, there was no recipe in the book, so I had to make it up, to what I think is a pretty tasty concoction.

Ingredients

• 1/2 C French lentils
• 4 C Free range chicken stock
• 4 T olive oil
• 1/4 C chopped onions
• 1/2 C chopped carrots
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 C white wine
• 1 bunch chicory/escarole
• Salt and pepper
• 2 C cooked small pasta (I used orecchiette, but any small pasta would do)
• Grated Italian cheese for garnish (Parmesan, Asiago, etc.)

Directions

In a large frying pan over high heat, warm up some olive oil. Add the onions, celery, and half the carrots. Cook till the onions start to turn translucent. Add half the chicken broth, half the white wine, and all of the lentils. Stir and reduce the heat to medium. Add salt and pepper to taste. This will need to cook till the lentils are tender, which will take anywhere from 30-45 minutes depending on the bean. Let it simmer uncovered adding water if the liquid runs out.

Meanwhile, in another large pan over high heat, heat the rest of the olive oil. Saute the carrots for a few minutes. Then add the chicory and saute for another minute. Salt the greens with a few shakes of the salt shaker. Then add the rest of the chicken broth and white wine to the pan. Turn the heat down to medium-low and allow to simmer until the greens are wilted and tender. This takes about 20-30 minutes. At 20 minutes test the greens. If they still taste bitter, let them cook some more. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

When both the lentils and the greens are done, mix them together. In this way, you’re using the liquid that has many of the healthy nutrients from cooking down the greens. There should still be a little bit of liquid, but not a lot – it should be just a little bit saucy. Mix in the cooked pasta. Serve with a healthy helping of grated cheese.

I’ve mentioned before that I LOVE gnocchi. And I especially love it with nice saucy, wipe your plate clean with crusty bread, sauce. This tomato sauce is a great fresh sauce that is a riff on a tomato with lemon confit from Garden at the Cellar.

Ingredients

• Plain potato gnocchi (frozen, fresh, or homemade)
• 8 large tomatoes, blanched, peeled, deseeded, and crushed (for this recipe 2 tomatoes per person is a good rule of thumb, everything can scale to that)
• 2 lemons
• 3 T olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 t salt (more or less to taste)
• 3 T butter
• 10 large basil leaves, sliced
• Fresh ground pepper

Directions

In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, saute garlic in olive oil for about 30 seconds, careful not to burn the garlic. Add the tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes are pretty crucial to this. Canned tomatoes are a little too sweet and salty. Plus, it’s really fun to squish the tomatoes with your hands into the sauce pan.

Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Cook uncovered until to a consistency that you like. I typically just let it cook down while the gnocchi is cooking.

Place the gnocchi in deep bowls. Add the butter and lemon to the sauce and mix well. Spoon over the gnocchi and garnish with basil. Serve with a spoon or a big loaf of bread.

I LOVE gnocchi. It’s rustic, and homey, and just plain delicious! So I decided I was going to learn how to do it. I’ve made a few different kinds of gnocchi and I have two tips.

1. Practice, practice, practice. You likely won’t get it right the first time you do it. But somewhere between the 5th and 10th time you make it, you’ll start to get a feel for the way the dough should be.
2. Do not overcook. When the little pillows pop to the surface, get them out of the water or they will turn into mashed potato soup.

I’ve made a couple different varieties, but will start with the recipe for regular gnocchi and give variations in the notes.

Ingredients

• 4 dry white potatoes, like russet (this is pretty crucial, if you use something like  a new potato or yellow potato they will be too wet and they flavor will overwhelm the recipe)
• 2 or 3 eggs
• 1/2 C or so of semolina flour
• 1 C or so of regular flour
• 1/4 t of salt

Directions

Bake or steam the potatoes. When they’ve cooled to the touch, remove the skins and mash in a large bowl. Get all the lumps out and if you’re a perfectionist, push the potatoes through a ricer. Wait till the potatoes are just warm to start making the gnocchi (if you want to make this a two day process, put the mashed potatoes in the fridge).

To the potatoes, add the flours and salt. Make a well and crack the eggs into it. Scramble them and gradually start to incorporate the flour and potatoes. Then toss the fork aside, and combine the ingredients with your hands till mixed. Turn the dough onto a floured, wooden cutting board. Wash the gook off your hands and flour them.  Knead, adding flour as necessary to prevent from sticking to your hands or the cutting board. This is one of those places where you’re going to have to figure out what the right consistency is by trial and error. I typcially knead for about 5-7 minutes, but many recipes say to go as long as 8-10.

Cut the dough into eighths. Take one and roll out like a snake. I like to make mine about 2cm in diameter (Paul says it’s about the same diameter of a rolling pin handle). Don’t roll it too narrow or they won’t be pillowy.

Flour your knife and cut the rolled out dough into 2cm pieces. Then is the fun part! I didn’t get how to do this for the longest time, so I’m providing step by step pictures of how to do this.

1. Press one of the pieces against the tines of a floured fork. (Most will tell you to use the back, but obviously the front works, too.)
2. Push the dough towards the tip of the tines.
3. The dough will start to pull up from the fork, so just grab the bottom of it and pull it in on itself towards the tip of the times.
4. Roll it off the tip of the fork and place on a floured surface. Repeat about 100 times.

Once you’ve got them all rolled and forked you can either cook immediately or freeze. To cook, drop into boiling water, stirring occassionally until they float to the surface. If you want to freeze them, put them on a floured cookie sheet in the freezer. Once they’re frozen, transfer them into a container.

I prefer gnocchi with some sort of saucy, sauce (I’m not a huge fan of it with pesto). I also really like sweet potato gnocchi. For that, substitute sweet potatoes for the regular potatoes and add a T or so of sugar and a t or so of nutmeg.

As the bulbs and trees start to bloom up here in New England, we’re all starting to get excited about summer fruits and vegetables. One of my favorites, which also happen to have a bad rap, are Brussel sprouts. I am taking a stab at growing these this year, so look for lots of recipes later this summer as I try to find creative and tasty ways to eat them.

In general, I find that these little cabbages pair well with lemony or vinegary sauces. But they’re great with just a little butter, garlic, and salt. In this recipe I’ve tried to move them from being relegated to a side dish and make them the star of a pasta dish for lunch. If I wasn’t eating it for lunch at work, I might pair it with a dry white wine.

Ingredients

• 25-30 Brussel sprouts with small, compact heads
• 1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
• 1/4 C raw pine nuts
• 1/4 C fresh tarragon, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T butter
• 1 t paprika
• 3 lemons, juiced
• Salt, to taste
• 4 servings of cooked pasta, I used shells here, but any short pasta would do well

Directions

The trick with Brussel sprouts is to cook them enough to take away their bitter edge, but not so much that they turn into a mushy mess. Microwaving them before you cook them helps. Start by rinsing them, cutting off the ends, and slicing lengthwise. Put in a microwave safe bowl with a little water, covered slightly. Microwave for about 4-5 minutes, stirring them every minute or so.

Strain the water from the sprouts. Heat the olive oil in a wide pan to medium high heat. Put the sprouts in the pan and distribute evenly. Salt the sprouts with a pinch or two of salt, to your taste.

Let the sprouts cook uncovered for a few minutes. Do not stir. Allow them to start to get a little brown on one side and then stir. Use tongs to get as many of them flipped to the other side as possible. Salt again and let the other side start to brown.

When both sides are getting brown and the sprouts are starting to get softer (but again, not mushy) add the garlic and pine nuts on top of them, letting the ambient heat start to cook them. After a minute or two, mix the garlic and pine nuts so that they touch the pan.

Add the tarragon and mix thoroughly.

When the garlic is cooked and the pine nuts are starting to brown, add the artichoke hearts, butter, paprika, and lemon juice. Add more salt to taste if necessary.

Mix in the cooked pasta and serve. Add a little fresh parmesan cheese on top with a little cracked pepper.

Puttanesca is my number one, quick weeknight meal. Why? Usually I have all the ingredients in the pantry, it only takes 30 minutes, and it is delicious. Add a salad and bread to make it a complete meal. Or don’t and stuff yourself with pasta! You’ll notice that when I took the pictures I deviated from the recipe somewhat… I forgot to chop my olives and then added the tomatoes before the rest of the ingredients because my garlic was about to turn brown. Luckily, this recipe is very forgiving.

Ingredients

• 1 can (28 oz) peeled Italian plum tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried red chili flakes
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2-3 anchovy filets, minced
• 1/2 cup oil-cured black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons capers
• 1 lb pasta

Directions

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and stir just until the garlic is pale blonde, about 30 seconds. Stir in olives and anchovies. Cook for about 30 sec, then stir in tomatoes, crushing them between your fingers as you add them. Simmer uncovered, until the sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the capers and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serves 4