Swiss chard gets a quick sauté to heighten its flavor.
Recipes:
Cauliflower with Capers and Brown Butter
Swiss Chard with Yellow Raisins, Pine Nuts, and Marsala
Escarole with Anchovies, Cumin Seeds, and Garlic
When I began cutting back on the carbohydrates, I didn’t fill the void with big amounts of protein, as I assumed I would. Instead I started preparing more vegetables to replace all the rice, potatoes, and pasta that had formerly crowded my plate. I attribute this perversion to my Italian-American upbringing. We really loved vegetables in our house. My father had a beloved little garden that he tended with a vengeance, and a lot of ceremony went into preparing and presenting all sorts of vegetables that my non-Italian friends probably viewed as evil—dandelions, broccoli rabe, cauliflower, escarole. I loved all that stuff.
Don’t get me wrong. When I was a kid I ate a lot of crap, Pop-Tarts and the like, but my mother, being a Southern Italian, always insisted on cooking unusual greens and serving a salad with every meal, all stuff loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids, although I’m sure she didn’t know that at the time. I loved her vegetables, her broccoli rabe with garlic and fennel seeds, her string beans with fresh tomatoes and basil, her spinach with raisins, her escarole with hot chilies and garlic.
The trick to working more vegetables into your life is making them outrageously appealing. That’s where Skinny Guinea comes in. There’s nothing less Italian in spirit, culinarily speaking, than a plate of steamed vegetables, and there’s just about nothing more boring. I’ve seen so many dieters get into the steamed-vegetables rut, to punish themselves, I imagine. They steam them, and then they don’t eat them, because they’re so dismal and watery, so they wind up eating a loaf of bread instead. Not good. In the Italian world, vegetables were made to be adorned. A quick sauté in good olive oil does wonders in coaxing out flavor. Roasting and grilling are other good approaches. In fact, any quick cooking method that lightly caramelizes a vegetable’s surface will improve its taste.
I like to pamper my vegetables with all the usual Italian suspects—a grating of pecorino, fresh herbs, capers, anchovies, a little pancetta, garlic of course, pine nuts, almonds, hot chilies, lemon, a splash of vermouth—adding just enough to make things interesting without overpowering the natural beauty of the vegetable itself.
Yesterday I found my first stalk of young spring garlic at the Union Square market. Local asparagus and all the early-season greens like watercress and dandelions will probably start showing up within days. It’s exciting. I’ll be playing around with all that wonderful spring produce as it comes to the market, and I’ll pass my best efforts along to you, subito.
(All recipes serve 4)
Cauliflower with Capers and Brown Butter
Extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into flowerets
1 garlic clove, peeled and lightly crushed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup capers, preferably salt-packed capers that have been soaked and rinsed
A handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a small sauté pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs, seasoning with salt and black pepper, and sauté until just crisp and lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
Set up a pot of water, and bring it to a boil. Drop in the cauliflower, and blanch it for about 4 minutes. Drain it, and run it under cold water to stop the cooking. Let it drain well. Place the cauliflower in a shallow baking dish.
In a small saucepan, heat the butter and the garlic clove over medium heat until the butter becomes light golden brown. It can go from appealing brown to black in no time, so keep an eye on it.
Season the cauliflower with salt and black pepper, add the parsley and the capers, and give everything a toss. Pour on the brown butter, and toss again. Top with the breadcrumbs, and bake until the top is lightly browned and the dish is hot, about 12 minutes.
Serve hot.
Swiss Chard with Yellow Raisins, Pine Nuts, and Marsala
1/3 cup yellow raisins
A generous splash of dry Marsala
2 bunches Swiss chard, the thick center stalks removed (you can leave some of the more tender stalks) and the leaves roughly chopped
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
A few big scrapings of nutmeg
Salt
1/3 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
Freshly ground black pepper
Place the raisins in a small cup, and pour on the Marsala.
Set up a big pot of water, and bring it to a boil. Drop in the chard, and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain the chard into a colander, and run cold water over it to stop the cooking and to bring up its green color. Let that drain, and then squeeze out as much excess water as you can.
Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a large skillet, and get it hot over medium heat. Add the shallot, and sauté until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the chard, and sauté quickly, stirring it around a bit. Add the raisins and the Marsala, and let the Marsala boil away. Take the skillet from the heat, and add salt, nutmeg, the pine nuts, and black pepper, giving the chard a good stir.
Serve hot or warm.
Escarole with Anchovies, Cumin Seeds, and Garlic
1 very large head escarole, chopped
Extra-virgin olive oil
A small palmful of cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 anchovy fillets, chopped
Salt
Dried red pepper flakes (I like Aleppo pepper)
Set up a large pot of water, and bring it to a boil. Add the escarole, and blanch for about 3 minutes. Drain it into a colander, and run cold water over it to stop the cooking and bring up its color. Drain well, and squeeze out as much excess water as you can.
In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, and sauté until fragrant, about a minute or so. Add the garlic and the anchovies, and sauté a minute longer. Add the escarole, season with a little salt and red pepper flakes, and sauté for about a minute, just until the escarole is well seasoned.
Serve hot or at room temperature.
Erica De Mane 
Dear Erica,
As a big lover of escarole, I have been preparing it for years in that classic fashion – sautéed with potatoes, in plenty of olive oil and garlic. Imagine my delight to happen upon your sprightly recipe here ! What a brilliant idea to include cumin seeds, and eschew the potatoes. I am going to give it a try. However, do you have a suggestion for me (vegetarian) … What could I add to replace the anchovies, while retaining the delightful flavor medly your recipe invokes ?
Kind Regards,
Marieta
Hello my elegant French, Italian-American friend,
In response to your question about a replacement for the anchovies, I would suggest looking through your beautiful Paris markets for young spring garlic, the stalks that have not yet formed cloves. This has a very special flavor, sort of a cross between garlic and leek. You can slice up the entire stalk, even using some of the leafy green. The flavor is very rich. I think if you use this and include a sprinkling of French sea salt, you’ll achieve a delicate brininess and deeply flavored dish of escarole. A drizzle of Sardinian olive oil will contribute much to the flavor as well.
Glad you like my vegetable recipes. More to come.
Best to you,
Erica
Bravo, ma, Bene, maybe I’m weird, or better yet perverse – but I actually LIKE steamed vegetables. Or sometimes, I like them boiled in plenty of sea-salted water, until they are perfectly al dente. Really, I add an inordinately big palmful of “gros sel” to a big pot of boiling water before launching in my gorgeous, unsuspecting legumes ! Without salt = Taste murder.
Drained delicately, lightly doused with a nice Sicilian (Ravida, grazie Erica !) or Corsican (Domaine de Marquiliani, merci Lu Sputino) olive oil – then I may add a healthy grating of parmeggiano, and enjoy my feast.
One of my favorite steamed vegetable combinations is topinambur (aka Jerusalem artichoke) and finocchio (fennel). These hold up well to steaming, as their respective natures are tough enough to handle the purge of the steam.
Yet I wholeheartedly agree with you E. that certain legumes beg for the sautée – it is their most well-merited destiny.
I might mention here that my tiny yet elegant studio apartment eschews sautéeing – she accepts only what is absolutely essential for a well-turned out dish (and she tries to avoid infusing her diminutive dimensions with too many recollections of meals passed). So I steam or boil whatever I can get away with, to avoid her surly wrath !
Baci, Nicole
Chère Erica,
Thank you for the recommendation !
I will go tomorrow the the marché Iena à Paris to seek out this elusive garlic stalk ! Merci !
ton amie
Marieta
Chérie
I forgot to ask — do you have any recommendations for nice Sardinian olive oils, which you mention in your post ?
Let’s hope I can find them in France – a country so close to Italia, yet so hard to find good italian products !
ciao
Marieta
Hello Nicole,
Maybe I was a little harsh on steamed vegetables. And you do have a point, anything will taste good showered with Ravida olive oil and parmiggiano, even ping pong balls. (but only after a good steaming). I guess I was thinking about steamed vegetables eaten unadorned, and this does still give me the creeps.
The truth is I haven’t steamed anything in a long time and maybe it’s time I tried it again. I have bad memories of my first forays into Asian cooking years ago, which somehow always seemed to entail steaming piles of snow peas. I really hate those things and the smell of them steaming was enough to make me gag. I do recall, at some point in my life, steaming broccoli and then letting in marinate in good olive oil, salt, and a touch of fresh garlic. Eaten at room temperature, this was pretty decent, even a little lush. Maybe I’ll drag out my steamer pot and giving it another shot. I’ll report back to you on my findings.
Thanks for your thoughtful note.
Best to you,
Erica D
Hi Marieta,
I think I was possibly having a touch of middle-aged brain drain when I mentioned Sardinian olive oil. What I was actually thinking about was the lovely Corsican oil that you recently introduced me to. But since I brought up the subject, there is a good Sardinian oil that I have ordered from Zingerman’s (www.zingermans.com). It’s called Montalbo. It’s quite strong and peppery, with a pleasant bitter kick that turns sweet at the back of the throat. It’s wonderful on bitter vegetables such as broccoli rabe or dandelions.
Best to you,
Erica