Royal Potato Salad

 (from Plenty, by Yottam Ottolenghi)

Contrary to what the infrequency of posts lately might indicate, La Piccina Cucina is still alive and well. At least, still functioning. I've been cooking plenty, just not many new things. And I have a long list of recipes I haven't gotten around to yet, because, well, there's just an awful lot of fun, new things to do here in California. There is also a lot of incredible food to be eaten. Hooray!

Anyway, this I actually made tonight! And it was good enough that I wanted to go straight to the computer to write it up. It's from this amazing vegetarian cookbook, Plenty, which has the most beautiful, interesting, I-want-to-try-that recipes. Seriously, I want to make like everything in that book.

So first, I made this. At its most basic level, it's potato salad with pesto sauce. That already would be great. But it also adds quail eggs, and whaddya know, Berkeley Bowl sells them. And we pass by them every week, and want to buy them but have no idea what to do with them, until now.

Served this with broiled pork chops that sat in a nice sugar-salt-balsamic brine (brine recipe here) all day, then got popped in the oven with some mini lemon slices from the tree out back (eeee!!!).

For 4-6 (I halved it, ish):
15 quail eggs
1 cup petite peas (frozen)
1 3/4 lbs new potatoes, washed (I don't know what "new" potatoes means. I just bought small ones.)
1 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup parsley leaves, plus some extra for garnish
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 garlic cloves
1 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar (I completely forgot to add this, btw)
1 bunch sorrel leaves, finely shredded (he says you can also use mint, which I think would be really interesting - I couldn't really taste the sorrel)
Salt and black pepper

Place the quail eggs in a small pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, depending on if you want them soft- or hard-boiled. Put them in cold water; peel them when you have a pause in the action.

Start the water boiling for the potatoes. When it boils, blanch the peas in the water for about 30 seconds, then drain and run under cold water. Set them aside for now.

Cook the potatoes until they're soft, about 15-20 minutes. You want them warm, ideally, when you put them in the sauce.

Make your pesto sauce while the potatoes cook. Put the basil, parsley, pine nuts, Parmesan, and garlic in a food processor and process to a paste. Add the olive oil and blend in the processor. Pour the pesto into the bowl in which you'll serve the salad.

Drain the potatoes, and cut in halves as soon as they won't scald you to touch (this can be a good time to peel the eggs). Add the potatoes to the bowl with the pesto, and toss with vinegar, sorrel, and peas. Mix well. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cut the eggs in half and gently mix them into the salad. Garnish. Eat.

"Greek" Pasta Salad

Last week, Joef graduated from the Yale School of Management. I'm wildly proud of him, and feel very lucky to have been able to spend two years with such a fascinating and fantastic group of people. Joef's parents, sister, and our youngest nephew came into town to celebrate with us, and we knew where we wanted to take them: The Place in Guilford. I've actually only been there once, last summer, and I've been wanting to take Joef since then. It's an all-outdoor restaurant with a giant firepit in the middle of bunches of tables with tree stumps for chairs. They serve grilled clams, lobster, salmon, chicken, shrimp, corn-on-the-cob, and delicious desserts. Shattered clam shells serve as flooring, and it's just great.

It's also a BYO type of place, from beverages to sides to, well, pretty much whatever you want. I decided to put together a quick pasta salad, something I'd seen Rachel Ray throw together on TV a few years back. It's simple and delicious, and great as leftovers the next day. It complemented our grilled salmon in aluminum foil and clams with butter just right. It's an "eyeball it" type of recipe, so here's approximately what you need:

3/4-1lb orzo pasta, cooked
1 package grape/cherry tomatoes
1 cucumber, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
Kalamata olives, however many you want
Feta cheese sprinkles, sprinkled generously
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

You guessed it: just prep the ingredients and mix them all together, using a 2:1 or ratio on the olive oil: vinegar. Picnic time!

Collard Greens, Two Ways

Above: Smoky Collard Greens, from Claire Robinson's Five Ingredient Fix. Below: Sauteed Collard Greens with Prosciutto, a la Piccina Cucina

 

We apparently have a penchant for bitter greens in this house. Actually, I think we probably just have a penchant for anything we can smother in olive oil, but hey, let's take the healthy excuse. Our latest discovery, adding to the broccoli rabe and brussels sprouts repertoire, is collard greens. So good! The first time I made them, I did them just like I do broccoli rabe, except I added a little (ahem) butter in with the olive oil. This time, I added a little prosciutto (just getting healthier and healthier). Served it with pork chops (mmm, pork with a side of pork!).

Another great way to make them, as I discovered in Five Ingredient Fix, is to sautee them with paprika, cayenne, and onions for a smoky flavor. I served those with aglio e olio.

Both ways are good (or all three ways, I suppose), and since it's a side dish, hey, try them all.

SMOKY COLLARD GREENS
3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium sweet yellow onion, sliced
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and ground pepper
2 1/2 lbs (about 2 large bunches) collard greens, stems chopped off, sliced into thick ribbons, and halved

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or sautee pan over medium-high. Add the onion, paprika, and cayenne, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened. Add 1/2 a cup of water to the pot (SIX ingredients!). When the water simmers, add the greens (pack them in, they'll wilt). Season with more salt and pepper if needed. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes or so. Remove the lid, toss the greens, reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue to simmer until the greens are completely cooked and the liquid has all evaporated, about 10 more minutes. Serve warm.

SAUTEED COLLARD GREENS, WITH OR WITHOUT PROSCIUTTO
1-2 tbsp or so olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
4-5 slices prosciutto, torn into smaller pieces (optional)
1/2 - 1 tbsp butter
1-2 large bunches collard greens, stems chopped off, sliced into thick ribbons, and halved
1 cup chicken broth

Prep your greens, then add olive oil and butter to a large sautee pan over medium heat. If using prosciutto, add to pan and cook until a little crisp. Add the garlic. Let the garlic cook a few minutes without getting brown, then add all your greens to the pan. Let them start to wilt, tossing to combine. Add chicken broth, and toss again. Continue to cook and rotate until the greens wilt and most of the water has boiled off. Takes longer than rabe, about 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan

(inspired by Eataly)

Joef and I finally made it to Eataly last weekend. We've been wanting to go since it opened, and we finally got the chance on a weekend trip to NYC.

It was pretty impressive - just huge. The selection was staggering (and you pay for that selection). At the same time, while I really enjoyed myself there and am glad I went, I think ultimately I'm more impressed by the small, family-owned Italian groceries that we used to go to in Chicago and that exist all over New York. I feel like you can get just about whatever authentic ingredient you want there, too. That being said, it was definitely worth the visit.

We ate at the pasta restaurant (La Pasta, appropriately), and for the antipasto misto, one of the three items was a delicious shredded brussels sprouts dish with pecorino and olive oil. I decided it wouldn't be too difficult to recreate, and since I'm on a brussels sprouts kick, hey, why not?

I think I almost got it. Next time, I'd cut off more off of the ends of the sprouts, because I think they get a little more bitter. Also, I'm trying to figure out if they blanched the sprouts beforehand or not - mine were a little crunchier, more like a slaw. Still, they were really good - a nice side dish with steaks with herbed butter and some orzo.

1 package fresh brussels sprouts, sliced thin
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper
Lemon juice, fresh-squeezed, optional

When you prep the sprouts, make sure to peel off the outer leaves that may be browned or yellowed. Once you've sliced them, put them in a bowl, and add olive oil, parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste. I'm not sure about proportions (wow, what a great recipe!), but enough olive oil to coat, and parmesan to taste. Add a squeeze of two of lemon juice, stir, and serve!

Oven-Roasted Brussells Sprouts

Many years ago, when I was very young, I kept a diary. This was not a "so-and-so boy is SO cute!!!" type of diary. It was a "I am SO lucky that I love brussels sprouts!" type of diary. You see, I was extremely easy to influence at this age. My parents had made brussels sprouts for dinner, gotten me all whipped up into a frenzy by saying, "WOW, Julia, these are SO good!!! Don't you love them?! Gosh, you're lucky!!". Apparently, that's all it took to get me to accept my love of brussels sprouts as fact and espouse that love on paper for posterity.

As the years went on, brussels sprouts and I had sort of a falling out. It had really been years since I'd had them. That is, until Joef and I went to out to eat at Zinc for Valentine's Day, and ordered the grilled natural hangar steak in cabernet-bordelaise sauce with roasted baby brussels sprouts. Oh my Lord. The steak was fantastic. The sauce was fantastic. The brussels sprouts were out of this world. They absolutely stole the show.

So I had to give them a go at home. I browsed a few online recipes for oven-roasting brussels sprouts, and then just went for it. Now, I didn't have baby brussels sprouts, and I didn't have a cabernet-bordelaise sauce, but wow. These were still absolutely awesome. You can practically eat them like candy. Savory, slightly bitter, delicious candy. Combine that with the fact that they're insanely quick and easy, and you've got a new menu regular.

I think it's best not to be too exact with this recipe, so:

1 package brussels sprouts

Olive oil

Salt

Ground pepper

Balsamic vinegar or lemon juice, optional

Parmesan cheese, optional

Preheat the oven to 400. Prep the brussels sprouts by trimming the stem ends and then peeling off any yellow outer leaves. Next, cut them in half lengthwise and throw them in a bowl. Drizzle on some olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste, and if you want, add a splash or two of balsamic or a squeeze or so of lemon juice. Toss.

Pop the sprouts in the oven on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, or until they're crispy on the outsides (see photo). Stir them around once or twice while they're in the oven. When you take them out, you can sprinkle them with a little parmesan cheese before serving. So surprisingly good!

Creamy Polenta with Gorgonzola

(adapted from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking) 

I love polenta. Joef hates it. I honestly cannot understand this, but that doesn't make it any less true. So, while Joef's away, expect to see me indulge in recipes with his least favorite ingredients - polenta, lentils, gnocchi (I know, he's crazy), etc. Fortunately, it's not really a long list, but I can indulge nonetheless.

This isn't so much a recipe as a suggestion from Marcella. She casually mentions how hot, soft polenta is great with some gorgonzola, butter, and parmesan cheese melted into it. Of course it is.

I didn't have any parmesan, but this was still delicious. Very comforting. It came out a little like grits, actually. Very creamy, very soft. What surprised me is that the texture of the polenta actually got a lot lighter with the cheese added - I expected it to get heavy. Not to say that this isn't filling, but it had a fluffy consistency.

Also, it takes like five minutes to make, so what do you have to lose?

1 cup instant polenta

1/4-1/2 tbsp butter

0.4 lbs (or so) gorgonzola crumbles

Make the instant polenta according to the package instructions. When cooked, remove from heat and immediately add the butter. Add gorgonzola crumbles in batches, gradually, stirring after each addition until melted and mixed in before adding the next batch. Taste periodically until it has the flavor you want. Sprinkle a couple gorgonzola bits on top for style, and cozy up with some nice hot, melty food on a blazingly hot day!

Fried Sweet Plantains

(from Tyler Florence's recipe on FoodNetwork.com)

Well, fry me in butter and sugar, and call me hooked on plantains! This recipe is a doozy when it comes to fat content, but mmm, oh-so good. The sauce was just perfect. I mean, I guess you can't really miss with brown sugar and butter. The cinnamon was really nice, too. And they are simple and quick. We had them as a side, but I think they'd make a good dessert or accompaniment to breakfast.

Next time, I'd cook them a little longer than the original recipe called for (I've made that adjustment below). Also, I'd love to try a version cooked in ramekins in the oven - you'd slice up the plantains, mix them with brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla, put maybe 1 tbsp. of butter in each ramekin (1/2 tbsp on top, 1/2 on bottom?), then bake them up for a few minutes and have 'em for breakfast. Whaddya think?

But here's how I did it this time:

3 ripe, black plantains
5 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp natural vanilla extract
2 tbsp brown sugar

To peel the plantains: first, cut off ends and discard. Then, with a paring knife, make 3 shallow slits lengthwise along the seams of the skin and peel away. Cut the plantains in half lengthwise.

Heat 4 tbsp of the butter in a large skillet and place over medium-low heat. Fry the plantains in a single layer, until golden on the bottom, then flip with a spatula. Add the cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar and let cook a couple more minutes, until the sugar begins to caramelize and the other side of the plantain has started to turn golden.

Just before serving, melt remaining tablespoon of butter to finish the sauce. Serve immediately.

Steak with Habanero Butter (with Rabe and Mashed Potatoes)

This was Joef's "welcome home from Japan safe and sound" dinner. Rabe was, of course, a requisite item, as was the addition of something spicy - in this case, habanero butter for the steak, which was seriously delicious.

This is maybe the second time I've made steak. I'm not sure what cut I got - it was inexpensive, didn't have a bone, and was somehow really, really good. Probably because it was just a leeeeetle bit fatty. Mmm.

MASHED POTATOES
4-5 small red potatoes, chopped into largish chunks
Milk
1-2 tbsp butter
Garlic powder
Dill
Salt

Boil the potatoes until softened. Drain, then stir in butter until it melts. Stir in milk, mashing the potatoes, until they're at the consistency you want. Add garlic powder and dill to taste. Season with salt to your liking.

STEAK with HABANERO BUTTER
2 steaks
Salt
Pepper
Habanero butter for serving (see instructions below)

With steaks at room temperature, salt and pepper on both sides, pressing the seasoning into the steak. Cook under the oven broiler. Turn once, cooking for a total of about 6-10 minutes, depending on how well done you want them. For the habanero butter, melt 2 or so tablespoons of butter and add habanero pepper flakes - a few pinches - stir to combine and pour over steaks once they're cooked. Enjoy!

Mexican Feast, Part 3: Classic Red Tomato Rice

(adapted from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

If you're going to make the Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa from earlier in this series, you might as well make this rice along with it (or vice versa). Just double the salsa recipe from 2 cups to 4 cups, and use 2 of those cups for this rice. We ate this rice with the main chicken dish (Part 4!).

The original recipe calls for baking the rice, which I'm sure would be great. Unfortunately, I didn't have an ovenproof, lidded saucepan - so I just cooked it on the stovetop, much like I would regular rice. And it turned out just fine. Here's how it goes:

2 cups Roasted Tomato-Jalapeno Salsa
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups medium grain rice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or water
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped

Make your salsa. In a saucepan/pot, heat the olive oil over medium, then add the rice and cook for about five minutes while stirring. Add the salsa right to the rice, then add the broth and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then turn to low and cover until the liquid evaporates and the rice is cooked, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle in the cilantro, fluff, and serve.

Mexican Feast, Part 2: Chipotle Shrimp

(from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen)

The second course we served for our Mexican Feast, along with the chips and salsa, was Chipotle Shrimp, which tided us over till I finished making the chicken...erm, a few hours later. I love these shrimp - I've made them a few times before, and they are great - pop-in-your-mouth smoky-spicy.

This is really two recipes in one: first, the Essential Sweet-and-Smoky (ah, there's the adjective combo I was looking for) Chipotle Seasoning Salsa, and then the Chipotle Shrimp, which calls for that seasoning. The seasoning makes a lot of leftovers (it makes 1 1/4 cups, and you only use 2-4 spoonfuls in the shrimp themselves), which can be stored in the fridge and used for other things (added to wine for mussels, added to dips, etc.) - although truth be told, I've never done any of that. Missed opportunity!

Let's start with the Chipotle Seasoning:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp molasses
Vegetable oil to a depth of 1/4 inch, for frying
4 oz dried chipotle chiles (Bayless prefers the red moritas, but I always use - because I can only find - the brown mecos), stemmed
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 tsp salt

In a medium saucepan, measure 1 1/4 cups of water, add the sugar and molasses, bring to a boil, remove from heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Set a skillet with the vegetable oil over medium heat, and when the oil gets hot (before it starts to smoke), add half the chiles. Stir and coat in oil until they start to smell spicy; some will puff up - cook for about 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to scoop them out of the oil and drop them into the sweet water and stir. Do the same with the rest of the chiles.

Pour off most of the oil in the pan, leaving a thin layer. Return to medium heat and cook the garlic, stirring until golden - about 4 minutes. Add to the chiles. Pour the chile mixture into a blender (with the water) and puree.

Return the same skillet to medium-high. When it's hot, add all of the chile puree to the pan. Stir, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. It will be very thick and will blacken and be shiny on top when it's ready. Season with salt if you want. Set aside.

Chipotle Shrimp
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 small white onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium tomato
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
2-4 tbsp Essential Sweet-and-Smoky Chipotle Seasoning Salsa (see above)
1/2 tsp salt
2 lbs (about 50) medium-large uncooked shrimp, deveined and peeled, but with final joint and tails kept on

Roast the garlic cloves on an ungreased skilled over medium until they blacken in spots. If you have a large enough skillet, you can simultaneously roast the onion by placing it in a square of aluminum foil and putting that on the skillet as well. Let it brown and soften, turning as needed. While this is going on, roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet below a broiler until the skin blackens; flip and allow the opposite side to blacken as well, then remove from the oven and let cool before removing the skin. Let the garlic cool and remove its skin, too.

Combine all of the roasted ingredients in a blender along with the pepper, cloves, and 1/4 cup water. Puree.

Heat the oil over medium-high in a very large skillet. When the skillet is hot enough to make a drop of the puree sizzle, add the puree all at once and stir for several minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and keep cooking and stirring another 5 minutes or so. Now, stir in your Chipotle Seasoning Sauce a tablespoon at a time until they reach the heat you want (I used 3 heaping tablespoons). Remove from heat; add salt if needed.

Once your shrimp are prepped, return the sauce to medium-high and stir into the sauce until the shrimp are cooked, about 3-4 minutes. The sauce will coat the shrimp. Serve and enjoy!

Joef's Candied Yams

Joef's Thanksgiving tradition is these yams. They are also his ultimate comfort food. I have to say, I was dubious about these yams at first, despite their being a fairly traditional - as I've learned - Thanksgiving dish. My family, too, was skeptical when Joef made these for our first Thanksgiving together. But I have to say I've come around, and my family brings them up (with yearning, in some cases) every year now. They are incredibly simple and deliciously sweet.

3-4 yams, peeled and sliced into circles
Brown sugar
Marshmallows, big or small (Joef prefers the big ones)

Preheat oven to 375. Take a square or rectangular baking dish and arrange sliced yams in the dish. Top with generous amounts of brown sugar. Really generous amounts. Place in oven and cook until yams are soft and brown sugar has turned to liquid. Cover the top with marshmallows, then pop back in the oven to allow the marshmallows to brown (making sure they don't, er, catch fire). Remove from oven and serve!

Spinach Pie

Spinach pie is really one of my favorite pies. I've always been a savory-vs.-sweet kind of gal, and this just hits the spot - it's even good, if not better, cold the next day. This pie was my (small) contribution to the Thanksgiving feast this year. We did Thanksgiving with family in New York this year, thanks to Kaylynn and Alexis, and it was a blast. The food - none of which I can take any credit for, aside from this pie - was out of this world. We even had oysters. Oysters!

The pie seemed to go over well, and was enhanced by the fact that it was a collaboration between myself and Joef's Aunt Sylvia, who made a delicious gluten-free crust for my filling. I need to get that recipe from her - for now, I've posted the usual and always satisfying crust recipe, and will update with the gluten-free version when I have it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

1 lb frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
1/2 lb muenster cheese, grated
1/2 cup granted parmesan
Sprinkle of nutmeg
1 egg
1 onion, diced
2 medium-sized potatoes, boiled
Milk
Butter
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Pie crust (below; gluten-free recipe to follow)

Put some olive oil in a large frying/saute pan and heat over medium. Add onions and allow to begin to soften, then add spinach. Stir around and let the spinach get hot and the onions soften. Add a little butter - 1-2 tbsp - and melt that in. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, break your egg into a large mixing bowl, beat it, then add your two cheeses and stir. Sprinkle in a little nutmeg (remember a little goes a long way). When your potatoes have boiled, mash them up with a little milk and butter, then combine in the large mixing bowl with the egg and cheese.

When you feel the spinach is cooked, remove it from the heat and let it cool a little bit so it doesn't cook the egg. Then mix it in with ingredients in the mixing bowl. Stir well, adding a little milk if you feel that it's dry. Pour it into the crust (see below).

CRUST (with gluten)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 stick butter, cut roughly into tablespoons
1/4 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 375. Combine the flour and butter in a bowl, and mix with your hands until fluffy and combined. Add the cold water, and again mix with your hands until you have dough that you can roll out. Add flour if it's getting too sticky. Place floured wax paper on your counter and roll out the dough on the paper (lightly flour the rolling pin, too) until it's about the thickness you want for your crust. Lift the dough over your pie tin, press down into the tin, and trim the edges (save them). Patch as necessary, then pour in the filling.

Take the remaining dough and roll it out again. Crust should cover the top of the pie. Use your fingers and thumb to pinch together the edges of the pie to get that ripply effect, and pierce top with tines of a fork.

Bake until crust is golden-brown.

Vegetable Latkes

(adapted from the New York Times)

One of my absolute favorite things is my Aunt Wendy's potato latkes. Oh my Lord. I crave those things. These "vegetable" "latkes" don't really do her justice; that being said, I scarfed just about a whole plate down. The recipe claims that these are a great way to get your daily veggies - maybe your daily veggies with a heart attack. Wow, am I selling these yet? In all seriousness - these were fun to make, yummy, and definitely a do-again.

So:
1 zucchini and a few baby carrots, grated - about 2 1/4 cups
2 scallions, chopped
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
Ground black pepper
1 egg
1/4 tsp grated lemon zest
Olive oil for frying

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a different bowl, mix together the milk, egg, lemon zest, and pepper. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk until just combined. It should be a little thicker than cream. Add the carrots, zucchini, and scallions and mix them in, then let them sit 20-30 minutes.

Fill a wide frying pan with 1/2-1 inch of olive oil to deep-fry, or less to shallow-fry, and heat until a small drop of the batter browns immediately. Have paper towels over a sheet of aluminum foil ready for draining the latkes. Drop the battered veggies into the oil in batches using a large spoon. Cook the latkes, flipping occasionally, until they're crispy and golden on both sides. When they're done, transfer them to the paper towels to soak the oil up a bit.

And that's it!

Broccoli Rabe with Garlic

For the second half-post of the day, we have a side dish: broccoli rabe (or maybe it's broccoli di rabe, or rapini, or what have you), sauteed with garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes. Broccoli di rabe, as previously discussed, is not for everyone - it's bitter, biting, unusual. I think Joef summed it up best: "It's so angry!" And that's why we like it. Plus, when you're not feeling well, as I'm not this weekend, eating something "angry" makes you feel like you're really giving your cold what-for.

Here ya go:
1/2 large bunch broccoli rabe, bottom stems removed, washed
2-3 tbsp or so olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, a couple sliced and a couple minced
Red chili flakes to taste
Salt to taste
3/4 - 1 cup water

Prep your rabe, then add olive oil and garlic with some chili flakes and salt to a pan over medium heat. Let those warm up and let the flavors combine, then add all your rabe to the pan. Let it start to wilt, stirring it around. Add more salt and chili flakes, if you want. Then add the water. Continue to cook and rotate until the rabe wilts and most of the water has boiled off. Serve as a side dish.

Joef's Spicy Green Beans

This is Joef's own creation. And it's delicious. And hot. Really, really hot. Like, walk around the room waving your hands at your mouth/cursing at Joef hot. Mmmm.

Here's his recipe:

Fresh green beans, washed and stemmed
Three "heaping" tbsp red chili paste (we like Sambal Oelek)
Three cloves of garlic, pressed in a garlic press
1 whole habanero, pressed in a garlic press
1/3 cup (or so) soy sauce

Mix all ingredients besides the green beans together in a small bowl to make the sauce. Sautee the green beans together with the sauce over medium heat, until beans are cooked, but still slightly crisp. Serve!

Mussels; Aglio e Olio; Arugula Salad

My best friend was in town for the weekend, so I decided to actually prepare a full-out meal, with sides and salad and everything. Mussels are a great way to go - they're delicious, truly easy, and significantly less expensive than clams. Plus, I'll eat seafood any chance I get.

1. Mussel with White Wine, Shallots, and Thyme (from www.cookthink.com)
Black mussels (scrubbed, de-bearded), 2 pounds
Butter, 2 tbsp
Small shallots (minced), 3
Garlic (minced), 2
Fresh thyme, 3 sprigs
White wine, 1/2 cup
Chopped fresh parsley, 1/2 cup

Put the mussels in a large pot of cold water; scrub each one clean and remove the beard and any grime on the shells. Drain them in a collander.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. When it's hot and foaming, add the shallots and cook 2-3 minutes, until they just begin to soften. Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add the thyme, wine and mussels. Stir, then cover the pot and turn the heat up to medium-high. Steam the mussels until they open. (Throw them out if they don't.) Sprinkle over the parsley and stir to combine the mussels with the sauce.

2. Aglio e Olio
Garlic (minced), 3 cloves
Olive oil
Salt
Red pepper flakes
Pasta

Start heating the olive oil (a generous amount, since it makes up most of the sauce) over medium heat. Add the garlic and let it simmer - don't let it burn. It should get nice and golden. Depending on the level of heat you want, add the red pepper flakes either early, with the oil, or late. Once the garlic is golden, mix the sauce into the spaghetti. Add a little fresh parsley if ya have it.

3. Arugula Salad
Arugula
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Put arugula in a bowl, drizzle some olive oil over it, and add less balsamic vinegar. Mix it up.

Squid with Green Sauce

(adapted from TAPAS, by Joyce Goldstein)

This is a nice tapas/appetizer. The recipe calls for clams, but suggests you can try it with squid, too. So let it be done, as my father would say!

Squid, cleaned (eight or more)
Flat-leaf parsley (1/4 cup)
Green onions (2 - the whole stalk)
Garlic (2 cloves)
Fresh lemon juice (2 tablespoons)
Olive oil (1/2 cup)

In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients but the squid.

Rinse the squid and cut it into squares, triangles, or strips. Put the squid into a hot saucepan and cook until they turn white and start to curl a little.

Drain out any excess liquid from the squid and mix it with the rest of the ingredients you've combined. Ready to go.