Home cooks love the idea of simple food, but as soon as we’re in the kitchen things aren’t so simple. It’s actually hard to cook simply because we always want to fiddle or add things or just not stand around looking at “simple,” because after all simple doesn’t require much, that’s why they call it simple.
The irony of course is that once we start our fiddling and the dish becomes more complicated it often ends up not the best thing in the world. Here’s the deal, I think. You’ve got to trust your food. You’ve got to trust that that raw food is actually delicious without you manipulating it beyond recognition.
There’s only 6 ingredients in this recipe (if you count the salt) but how they interact with each other is the magic of cooking.
In this preparation you’ll sauté the escarole, a slightly bitter green when eaten raw, and also called chicory since it’s a kind of chicory, along with Savoy cabbage, which is crinkly-leafed cabbage whose leaves are more tender the common green cabbage. Finally, you’ll stir in the spinach for the briefest of moments, just until the leaves wilt. Now eat it—don’t do anything else. Don’t garnish it.
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
- ¾ pound escarole (chicory), washed well and thinly sliced
- ¾ pound Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
- ½ pound spinach leaves
- Salt
- In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil with the garlic over medium-high heat until the garlic starts sizzling. Add the escarole and cabbage and cook, stirring frequently, until a minute past wilted, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, only until it is wilted, about 1 minute. Salt to your taste and serve hot.
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I purchased your book A Mediterranean Feast from our local Library (Thousand Oaks, Ca) and loved it! My Persian friends are always feeding me! and now all these spices to try! Thanks and we have a bakery now in Simi Valley, Ca called ZoZo Bakery, and really quite good! Oh and I will try this tasty morsel soon (Recipe)
Glad you’ve enjoyed the book.