Whee! August!

-1 huge bunch cavolo nero
-3 onions
-1 head amazing juicy fresh garlic
-2 green peppers
-5 carrots, white, yellow and orange
-1 ear corn
-1 bunch fresh oregano
-3 tomatoes
-3 small hot peppers

The very day I got this bag of treats, Germi commented about a long-cooked cavolo nero at Suzanne Goin’s AOC restaurant. I did some googling and am still not 100% sure I found the recipe, but the closest I could get was a recipe from Chowhound:

“Italian Greens

2 bunches cavolo nero, stemmed and cleaned
1/2 rosemary sprig
1 dried red chilli d’arbol
1 yellow onion; peeled, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves; peeled, thinly sliced
Salt; to taste

Blanch the cavolo nero in salted boiling water for 2 minutes, drain, allow to cool, then squeeze out the excess water with your hands.

Heat a medium saucepot over medium heat and pour in 1/3 cup Dandaragan Estate Olive Oil. Add the rosemary sprig and one chilli and let them sizzle in the oil for about one minute. Add the thinly sliced onion and garlic. Season with salt to taste and cook gently over medium to low heat for about 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft and starting to colour slightly. Then add the cavolo nero to the pot and stir to mix well. Season with more salt and cook the greens slowly over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring often until they turn a dark, almost black colour and become slightly crispy on the edges. Adjust seasoning and set aside.”

I sort of followed those direction. I didn’t have rosemary so I threw in some fresh thyme (didn’t end up tasting it).

Strips of cavolo nero:

The difference between normal old grocery store garlic and the fresh stuff from the farm was amazing. Instead of being sticky it was juicy and sliced into lovely translucent pieces:

Am I weird that I find vegetables so beautiful? On a similar note, check out the water pooling up on the kale while I washed it:

I am always amazed by the wilting power of greens. You saw the cleaned ribbons of chard, above. Now here’s the same amount after being boiled for a couple minutes…

…and after I squeezed a crazy amount of bright-green water out of it (along with all the nutrients, I’m sure):

In addition to the garlic (love!) I cut up one of the lovely new onions from the farm, to flavor the greens along with a chili de arbol and the thyme leaves:

The amount of oil called for in the recipe seemed high, and I didn’t use quite so much. Still, the end result was too oily for my taste (and I love oily things–just give me some bread to mop it up with and I’m a happy girl). Very tasty, but not quite the “Now my life is complete” greens I hoped for. We’ll see if I end up with more as fall approaches; I’ll keep experimenting.

We ate the greens with grilled sausages and yet another tomato/cucumber/feta salad.