RECIPES HERE! ... for Vegetables

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ARTICHOKES
Stuffed ~ Braised w/Potatoes

ASPARAGUS
Soup ~ Frittata ~ Lemony ~ Pasta Mix

BROCCOLI
Garlicky ~ Lemony ~ Pasta Sauté

CABBAGES
Red ~ Savoy ~ Brussel Sprouts

CAULIFLOWER
Fried ~ Salad ~ Pasta Soup ~ Pasta Sauté

EGGPLANT
Sautéed Garlicky ~ Grilled & Herbey
"Parmigiana" alla Napolitana ~ alla Parmesana
Pickled "Sott'olio"

GREENS
Broccoli di rape Sautéed ~ Broccoli di rape w/Linguine
Chard Sautéed w/Potato ~ Chard Braised w/Tomato
Greens Sautéed Garlicky
Greens & Legumes Pasta Soup

LEGUMES
Pinto Pasta Soup ~ Lentil Pasta Soup

MUSHROOMS
Garlicky ~ w/Spaghetti ~ Risotto ~ Frittata

PEAS
Soup ~ Pasta Soup ~ Sauteed w/Mushroom & Artichoke
Braised w/Chicken & Potatoes

PEPPERS
Tangy Red Peppers Breaded ~ Tangy Red Peppers Almonded
Hot Cherry Peppers Pickled Sott'olio
Green Sautéed w/Onions ~ Green Roasted w/Potatoes
Green Pepper Frittata

POTATOES
White Potato Salad ~ Pink w/Beets ~ Green w/Beans
Pasta 'n Potatoes
w/Green Chard, Garlicky ~ w/Red Chard, Oniony
Braised w/Savoy ~ w/Artichokes ~ w/Brussel Sprouts
Roasted w/Green Peppers & Onions
Roasted w/Chicken & Onions ~ Braised w/Chicken & Peas

ROOTS & BULBS:
Beets ~ Carrots ~ Celery ~ Fennel

STRING BEANS
Salad ~ Lemony

ZUCCHINI
Grilled ~ Oniony ~ Lemony ~ Pasta Mix

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ARTICHOKES

Artichokes Stuffed with Love

(from Blog the Ninth)

* This recipe is for medium-sized oblong artichokes, not big green globes.
* Trim each artichoke thus: pull away outer leaves toughened by age or misfortune; slice off (but save) its stem, to give it a flat bottom to sit upright upon; slice off its pointy head, to remove the prickly points of its leaves, leaving it with a flat top. Put the trimmed chokes in a bath of lemon water.

* Prepare the stuffing thus: for each artichoke, measure out 3 tablespoons of seasoned bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. and a clove of garlic chopped fine. To this mound of seasoned breadcrumbs add finely chopped garlic and parsley, and fresh grindings of black pepper. Then cut out the white core of each artichoke stem, chop it finely, and add it to the breading. With a fork mix 'n mash in just enough extra virgin olive oil to the breading to make it mealy but still fluffy.

* Now stuff each artichoke thus: spiraling from outer leaves to inner, grab the artichoke with your left hand and use your left thumb to pull inner leaves inward and out of the way, while with your right hand you use a fork to pick up some breading and wedge it into the base of the leaf being stuffed. Continue stuffing spirally, leaf by leaf, to the center. When you tire, remember that you're being loving.
* As you go, arrange the stuffed artichokes snugly in a pot. Wedge bit wedges of peeled potatoes in between the artichokes.

* Now put a pot of water to boil, and a pan of light olive oil to heat (perhaps a tablespoon of oil per artichoke). Add several whole garlic cloves, lightly crushed or scored, to the heating oil. When the cloves sizzle, tip the pan to float them in the oil. As soon as they color and sweeten, pour out the pan of garlicky oil evenly all over the artichokes in the pot. Sprinkle the artichokes evenly all over with salt, and perhaps fresh grindings of black pepper, and perhaps more freshly chopped parsley.

* Put the pot of artichokes over medium heat, covered, to heat up, and sweat, and sizzle. When they smell good and look pretty, pour boiling water into the pot to come barely half way up the stuffed artichokes. Easy does it -- you don't want to wash your stuffing out of your artichokes! Perhaps add a bay leaf, if per chance you have one.
* Leaving the cover barely ajar, cook the artichokes until the hearts yield tenderly to a probing fork, perhaps 30, perhaps 40, even 50 minutes. Turn off the heat, and let them cool down to warm, so that that they can be eaten by hand.

* Eat thus: from the outside in, spirally, pull off each leaf and with your top teeth scrape off its clinging artichoke flesh together with its lovingly stuffed breading. I recommend you pile up your scraped leaves neatly on the side of your plate. When you get to the heart at the bottom of things, scrape away all its hairy choke with a knife or fork, and then engulf the heart of the thing, albeit lovingly. Eat the potatoes whenever and however you please.

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Artichoke Hearts Braised with Potatoes

(from Blog the Ninth)

* Put a package of frozen artichoke hearts to soak in a bowl of water, together with potato wedges nearly twice the size of the hearts. The ratio of hearts to wedges could be equal or unequal, depending on need or preference.
* Add an abundant allowance of chopped garlic to an expansive pool of olive oil. Turn up the heat to medium, and sauté just until the garlic blushes golden.
* Off heat, add the drained hearts and potatoes, with a generous sprinkling of salt. Cover the pan, return it to the heat, and sweat the hearts and potatoes, with a flip or two in between, until they glisten with the oil.
* Sprinkle the hearts and potatoes with a generous pile of freshly chopped Italian parsley and grindings all over of black pepper. Flip and fold to mix.
* Now add either boiling water, chicken broth, or both (I like half 'n half), to well half way up the hearts and potatoes. Bring the liquids to a lively simmer before flipping the hearts and potatoes in them.
* Bring the pan down to a gentle but still steady simmer, put the cover on ajar, and cook until the potatoes are soft. Correct for salt and pepper, needless to say.

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ASPARAGUS

Asparagus Egg Soup

(from Blog the Eighth)

* Trim two bundles of scallion, quarter them lengthwise, then cut them crosswise into inch-long pieces. Pour out a pool of olive oil into a pot, add a wad of butter, the chopped scallions, a shower of salt and grindings of pepper, then cover the pot and turn on the heat to medium.  Flipping now and again, let the scallions come to a steamy sizzle covered, then remove the cover to let them dry off and turn translucent and perfumey.
* Add a bundle of asparagus broken down into inch-long pieces, with a shower of salt.  Sauté them until they glisten with the oil. Then add half water and half chicken broth, just to cover. Turn the heat down to simmer gently until asparagus is fork-tender, ten minutes, more or less.
* Beat an egg or two with grated Pecorino Romano, salt, and pepper, and drizzle it throughout the asparagus broth in the form of a winding river. Let the river solidify a bit before running a fork back and forth to form egg clusters throughout the soup.  Let the egg finish cooking through.  Serve asparagus 'n eggs in a pool of its broth and crusty bread.

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Asparagus Frittata
(from Blog the Eighth)

* Trim two bundles of scallion, quarter them lengthwise, then cut them crosswise into inch-long pieces. Pour out olive oil to cover the bottom of a non-stick frying pan, add a couple of wads of butter, the chopped scallions, a shower of salt and grindings of pepper, then cover the pot and turn on the heat to medium. Flipping now and again, let the scallions come to a steamy sizzle covered, then remove the cover to let them dry off and turn translucent and perfumey.
* Add a bundle of asparagus broken down into inch-long pieces, with a shower of salt. Cover the pot and steam the asparagus until softened but still undercooked. Then remove cover to let them dry off and sizzle until fork-tender.
* Beat 4-6 eggs with a tablespoon full of grated Pecorino Romano per egg, plus salt and pepper.  Pour the eggs over the asparagus and mix to distribute the asparagus evenly through the frittata-to-be.
* Reduce heat to low and wait for a bottom layer to firm up. Then slip a spatula under the layer, all the way around the pan, to allow liquid egg on top to run under. Repeat until frittata sizzles gently at edges and is solid enough to slide onto a light plate; then turn the pan over the plate and gently, calmly, and gracefully flip over pan and plate together, to drop frittata back into pan. Finish cooking second side of frittata. (Or, instead of flipping, finish top of frittata under broiler.)
* Slide finished frittata onto a paper towel; use another to to blot excess oil from top of frittata.

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Asparagus Lemony

* Wash and trim your aspargus stalks, by snapping off the bottom ends wherever they naturally break. Steam them over very heavily salted water (to keep them green), just until fork-tender. As soon as you smell them, taste for tenderness.
* While the asparagues is steaming, rub a serving platter or bowl with the milk of a crushed garlic clove. You can leave the clove halves to toss with the asparagus, if you trust your eaters to know not to eat them; if they may not be trusted, discard clove halves.
* When the asparagus is tender-firm, dump the stalks steaming into the garlic scented dish. Salt them well evenly all over with a shower of salt and grind black pepper lightly all over.
* Next layer dressing as follows: first drizzle evenly all over with light olive oil; next sprinkle temperantly all over with lemon squirts; top at last with a generous drizzling all over of extra virgin olive oil.
* Now slide a spatula under to flip them over and fold them into one another, over and over, to mix the dressing and dress the beans. Taste and correct: more extra virgin? more lemon? more salt, pepper?
* Serve hot, fresh, and aromatic.

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Asparagus 'n Penne
(from Blog the Fifteenth)

* Boil or steam asparagus in salted water to fork-tender.
* Prepare a bit of tasty marinara sauce, by first sauteing finely chopped garlic in extra virgin olive oil, then adding pelati (whole peeled tomatoes imported from Italy!) with salt, and boiling them down at a lively but not angry simmer to a pulpy sauce, smashing them with your spatula during the continual stirrings.
* Besides your pre-cooked asparagus and sauce, have ready-to-hand a cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese and two eggs beaten with a dollop of milk, salt, and lots of freshly grated black pepper.
* Boil less than a pound of penne in well-salted water to al dente (firm, yet tender), drain it well, and return it to the pot. First mix in the asparagus and grated cheese, to dissipate the pasta's heat. Then quickly mix in the beaten egg, with vigorous stirrings.  To this creamy mass of pasta, mix in only as much of the sauce as needed to turn the creamy pasta rosy. Taste for salt and pepper -- you'll probably need more pepper.
* Serve it up quick and hot, creamy, billowy, and rosy, along with more grated Pecorino Romano and a pepper mill at the table.

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BROCCOLI

Broccoli Garlicky
(from Blog the Fourth)

* Trim the broccoli of its fibrous skin, and leave it to soak in a cold bath.
* Add a good deal of thinly sliced garlic to a pool of regular olive oil, and heat. When golden, add drained but still wet broccoli to pot, quickly salting, covering, and vigorously shaking it up in the pot.
* Let broccoli steam until softening sets in. Then remove cover to let broccoli dry off and sauté, until tender, glistening with oil, and redolent with garlic.
* Correct for salt, and eat with crunchy bread.

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Broccoli Lemony 
(from Blog the Thirteenth)

* Peel away the fibrous skin of the broccoli, pare it down into little trees, rinse them, and boil or steam with well-salted water, just until fork tender.
* Lightly crack and halve a garlic clove, and rub/anoint a platter with its garlic milk. Arrange the broccoli on the platter.
* Drizzle regular olive oil evenly all over the broccoli; shower with salt, and squirt lemon juice evenly all over; finish will a final drizzling of extra virgin olive oil evenly all over. Don't be cheap with the oil.
* Serve either warm, cooled to room, or slightly chilled, depending on tastes and circumstances.

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Broccoli ‘n Penne Sauté
(from Blog the Fourth)

* Strip broccoli of its fibrous skin, and soak in a cold bath. Sauté an abundance of thinly sliced garlic in an abundant pool of regular olive oil. At very first sign of garlic gilding, add wet broccoli to pot, off heat, and salt broccoli. Cover pot, shake it all up, and return it to heat.
* Let broccoli steam until softening sets in. Then remove cover to let broccoli dry off and sauté, until tender, glistening, and redolent.
* Cook penne in abudant well-salted water.  When pasta is just short of done, transfer wet with a slotted utensil into sizzling pot of broccoli.
* Sauté pasta with broccoli for a minute or two, adding pasta water for slipperiness, until pasta is glistening, bespeckled green, and savorous.
* Eat with grated Pecorino Romano, if it you like.

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CABBAGES

Red Cabbage Barbary 
(from Blog the Fourteenth)

* Halve your Red Cabbage, cut out the core, slice it into inch strips, and put them to soak. * Sauté lots of finely sliced onion in extra virgin olive oil until golden; mix in finely sliced carrot and celery and a bit of very finely sliced garlic, with showers of salt, great grindings of black pepper, a discrete grinding of nutmeg, and a handful of raisins too, if you like, and sauté until glistening and aromatic.
* Drain your red cabbage strips, mix them in, and sauté them until they too glisten.  Add some teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and mix to coat.  Then add a cup of red wine, turn up the heat, and boil it away quickly, turning everthing over in the wine now and again.
* When the wine has reduced to a viscous broth, add chicken broth to come half way up the cabbage, and finish cooking the cabbage on moderately lively heat with the lid ajar.  Cook until fork-tender, bright purple, and glistening with oil, in a pool of viscously vinous cabbage broth.

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Savoy Cabbage Braise

(from Blog the Thirty-ninth)

* Mercilessly removing leaves old or blemished, first halve the cabbage lengthwise into halves and then quarters, and then crosswise into inch-thick strips. Put them to soak in a bowl of cold water.
* Sauté an abundant amount of finely sliced onion, salted, in a pond of olive oil, covered, until sweaty and glistening with the oil. Uncover, and add one small clove of finely sliced garlic. Continue sautéing uncovered, flipping periodically, until the onion blushes golden.
* Mix in a few pelati (whole tomatoes, imported from Italy!), seeded and chopped, with salt. Add a hot red pepper or two, if you like it hot. Sauté the tomatoes for a few minutes down to saucey.
* Drain the cabbage strips, and add them in with showers of salt. Slide a spatula under and over to bring up the oniony sauce and mix it with the cabbage. Cover, to sweat the cabbage, flipping it over once or twice, until it sweats shiney with the oil.
* Meanwhile, optionally, peel, wash, and cut up a potato or two into inch-thick wedges.
* Add boiling water and chicken broth, half 'n half, to barely cover the cabbage, together with the optional potato wedges. Bring the liquid up to a steady simmer, and cover the pot, with the cover ajar. Cook the cabbage to tenderly touthsome.
* Turn off the heat, and sprinkle some fork-crumbled pecorino-romano, or grated, or both. Let the cabbage rest a bit before turning it over to mix in the cheese.
* Either serve it brothy in a bowl with crusty bread as a first dish; or else with a slotted spoon platter as a moist vegetable side.

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Brussel Sprouts Braised with Potatoes

* Trim each Brussel sprout, pulling away old or blemished outer leaves, slicing away a slice of the toughened butt, and halving it lengthwise. Put the sprout halves to soak in cold water. Peel, wash, and cut up potatoes into inch-thick wedges, in bulk either to equal or to double the Brussel sprouts, as needed or desired, and add them to the soak.
* Melt a wad of butter into a pond of extra virgin olive oil. Sauté an abundant amount of finely sliced onion, salted, covered, until sweaty and glistening with the buttered oil. Uncover, and add one small clove of finely sliced garlic. Continue sautéing, flipping periodically, until the onion blushes golden.
* Add the drained sprouts and potatoes, with a generous sprinkling of salt, flipping them in the onion. Cover the pan and sweat the sprouts and potatoes, with another flip or two in between, until they glisten with the oil.
* Sprinkle the sprouts and potatoes with a generous pile of freshly chopped Italian parsley and grindings all over of black pepper. Flip and fold to mix and marry.
* Now add chicken broth, or both chicken broth and boiling water, to come well half-way up the sprouts and potatoes. Bring the liquids to a lively simmer before flipping the sprouts and potatoes in them.
* Bring the pan down to a gentle but steady simmer, put the cover on slightlly ajar, and cook, flipping periodically, until the potatoes are soft. Correct for salt and pepper, needless to say.

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CAULIFLOWER

Cauliflower Fried Crispy

(from Blog the Twenty-eighth)

* Break your head of cauliflower up into florets twice bite-size.
* Beat a couple of eggs with a dollop of milk and salt and pepper.

*  Pour out a mound of seasoned bread crumbs onto a paper towel, and mix in a couple tablespoons of flour. 

* Several at a time, dunk the florets into the eggwash to coat well. Then, letting excess drip away, transfer them to the pile of crumbs, and use the corners of the paper towel to roll them around in the crumbs, until all coated evenly. (For more of a crust, repeat.)  Gingerly remove them to a place of rest, to dry off.
* When ready to fry, on lowish-medium heat, heat up enough oil to come half way up the florets. When the oil is hot, gingerly add florets to the pan, leaving them breathing room. They should sizzle gently but steadily, audibly whispering.  When they gild crispy below, turn them over to the other side.
* If serving immediately, let them cool off on a paper towel, to whisk off oozing oil. If to serve later, lay them out on a cookie sheet, to go into a 350 degree oven for re-heating and re-crisping at the kairotic moment.

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Spicy Cauliflower Salad

(from Blog the Twenty-eighth)

* Break your head of cauliflower up into florets twice bite-size, and boil them in an abundant amount of well-salted water, only until al dente, tender but firm, like a good mother. Scoop them out of the water with a sieve and gently lay them out in a broad colander, sprinkling them steaming evenly all over with a light sprinkling of salt and generous grindings of black pepper.
* Use your palm to squash 6-12 olives, to expose and remove their pits, piling up the torn olive flesh.  Chop 2-4 anchovy fillets, add them to the olive pile, and chop the pile fine.  Now chop a garlic clove and hot red-pepper fine, and mix it into the pile.  Then mix in a tablespoon or two of capers, the salted sort but having been soaked in white (wine) vinegar to separate out the salt—be sure to accidentally get some of that vinegar into the pile too.
* Scrape the pile of spicy condiments into the bottom of a bowl and add in the warm cauliflower. Drizzle very generously all over with extra virgin olive oil. Then slide a spatula underneath and flip the condiments up and over into the cauliflower, gently and rhythmically, rotating the bowl, so as to fold all together. Then add in a great deal of parsley chopped not too finely, and fold it in as well.
* Taste. If you like, squirt lemon juice here and there. Taste again. If not delicious yet, give the cauliflower more of whatever it likes.

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Cauliflower Pasta Soup  
(from Blog the Twenty-sixth)

* Saute much onion, thinly sliced, until golden, in a pool of regular olive oil, over medium heat.
* Add several pelati (whole peeled tomatoes from Italy), roughly chopped, perhaps seeded, with a sprinkling of salt. Cook the pelati down for five minutes or so into a chunky little sauce.  (You could add basil in summer, or a pinch of dried marjoram in winter, if you have it and feel like it.)
* Add in your cauliflower broken down into florets, and flip them in the sauce until bespattered with it. Shower with salt, cover, and steam for five minutes or so, with a flip or two in between, until the cauliflower flushes sweaty.
* Now add boiling water and chicken broth in equal measure, to just cover the cauliflower. Bring the liquid to a simmer, put the cover on the pot ajar, and simmer lively until the cauliflower florets are soft enough to mash into a chunky soup. Finish cooking the cauliflower chunks to quite al dente (very firmly tender), tasting and correcting their broth for salt. (You could add hot red pepper, if you like it hot.)
* Off heat, add Pecorino Romano, grated, crumbled, or both.
* Boil spoon-sized pasta (such as small shells, orecchiete, or spaghetti snapped into inch-lengths) until still well short of al dente; use a small sieve or slotted spoon to transfer the dripping wet pasta from its pot into the cauliflower pot, to finish cooking together with the cauliflower in its broth. Add pasta cooking water as needed, to keep the cauliflower soup soupy.
* Serve in pasta bowls with soup spoons, and grated cheese and hot red pepper on the table.

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Cauliflower Pasta Sauté
(from Blog the Twenty-sixth)

* Boil big chunks of cauliflower in a big pot of well salted water until still quite al dente (still firmly tender).
* Meanwhile, in a large frying or braising pan, sauté an abundant mound of chopped garlic in an abundant pool of extra virgin olive oil over mild heat until just golden. Off heat, add in one or two anchovy fillets, chopped very finely, and use a spatula to mash and mix it into the garlic and oil. You could also add hot red pepper, if you like it.
* When the cauliflower is near ready, return the pan of seasoned oil to sizzling over medium heat. Add in the boiled cauliflower and mash it down into a chunky mass. Sprinkle it with salt and an abundant lot of freshly ground black pepper. Then flip the cauliflower mash over and over in the seasoned and sizzling oil, and sauté until delicious, adding more of whatever it asks for as you go.
* Bring the pot of cauliflower water back to a rolling boil and add in penne. Cook to short of al dente, tender but still too firm. Taste the penne and mix more salt into the water, if needed, before using a small sieve or slotted spoon to transfer the dripping wet penne in to the pan of sizzling seasoned oil.
* Now raise the heat and flip and fold the cauliflower mash over and into the pasta, adding cooking water as necessary to keep everything slippery, sautéing the pasta until glistening with the cauliflowered oil. The smell of it should go to your head. To finish it off, mix in a fistful of fresh parsley roughly chopped. Now it should be down right pretty.
* Serve it up fast, hot and fresh, together with grated Pecorino Romano, hot red pepper flakes, and a black pepper mill at table. You could also supply a creamer of the cooking water, in case someone likes it slippery.

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EGGPLANT

Eggplant Garlicky 
(from Blog the Eighteenth)

* Peel and slice eggplant into fat cubes or thick strips; soak in brine (1/4C. salt to 1qt. water) for an hour; drain, rinse, and dry.
* Lay out eggplant in a crowded layer in a broad pan, shower with salt, and drizzle extra virgin olive oil generously over all pieces. Cover the pan and heat to steamy; then lower heat and keep cooking, flipping eggplant now and again to keep it from sticking, until it begins to release oil and sizzle in it. Remove cover, raise heat to moderate, and keep sautéing.
* Add a right goodly amount of garlic chopped fine, and keep sautéing until the garlic becomes aromatically golden. Then add a bit of chopped tomato for color.
* Keep cooking til tender, adding a bit more water or oil, as necessary, to cook eggplant to tender and glistening.
* In the last few minutes of cooking, mix in accents of fresh chopped parsley and big crumbs or gratings of Pecorino-Romano.
* Crusty bread is not optional.

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Grilled Eggplant Herbey
(from Blog the First)

* Grill eggplant sliced pencil thick, on a ridged grill, charring it like a steak, grilling first one side, then the second; and then back to the first side with a quarter-turn, and likewise back to the second with a quarter-turn, for cross-hatch grill marks. The eggplant will look dry and shriveled. Slice them in strips, to be dressed and revived.
* Dress with both virgin and regular olive oil; both wine vinegar and lemon; both chopped parsley and basil; salt, black pepper, and oregano; and finely chopped garlic.
* Gently toss, to blend dressings and imbue eggplant.

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Eggplant alla Napolitana
(from Blog the Twenty-first)

* Peel and slice eggplant into slices shy of a half-inch; soak in brine (1/4C. salt to 1qt. water) for an hour; drain, rinse, and dry.
* Bread eggplant slices by dipping first in eggs beaten with a dash of salt and dollop of milk, and then in seasoned breadcrumbs mixed with some flour. Sizzle to golden in a half-inch of moderately hot oil to golden. Salt both sides to tasty.
* Make eggplant sandwiches with thin slices of mozzarella and big crumbs of Pecorino Romano.  Lay the sandwiches out in a pan smeared with marinara sauce, and top each sandwich with a generous spoonful of the sauce, sprinkling each mound of sauce with grated Pecorino Romano.
* Bake in a moderate oven (325-350) until mozzarella melts (20-30 minutes). Eat with crusty Italian bread, needless to say.

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Eggplant alla Parmesana
(from Blog the Twenty-first)

* Peel and slice eggplant into slices shy of a half-inch; soak in brine (1/4C. salt to 1qt. water) for an hour; drain, rinse, and dry.
* Deep fry eggplant slices in maximally hot oil to golden 'n gilded. Salt both sides to tasty.
* Make eggplant sandwiches with thin slices of fresh mozzarella, big crumbs of Parmigiano-Reggiano, a generous spoonful of marinara sauce, and a basil leaf.
* Lay the sandwiches out in a broad and well-buttered pan, and top each sandwich first with a mound of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and then a few big curls of butter.
* Bake in a low oven (300-325) until mozzarella melts (15-20 minutes). Remove sandwiches with slotted spoon to platter decorated with fresh basil leaves. Serve with crusty bread.

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Eggplant Pickled"Sott'olio"
Traditional hot brine
(from Blog the Forty-first)

* Use such firm eggplant as baby "Italian" eggplants. Peel them, and cut them in long strips as thick as a finger (1/2-inch square).  Layer them in a pot, salting each layer as you go, and allow the eggplant to steep in the salty brine it will shed for 3-4 hours.
* Drain and rinse the eggplant and put them in a colander under a weight for an hour or two, with occasionally tossing.
* Now bring to a rolling boil a vinegar-bring of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. Add the eggplant and bring the vinegar brine back to a boil for a minute or two, keeping them very al dente.
* Drain the eggplant in a colander under a weight for a few hours (or as long as overnight), with occasional tossing. If they still seem too moist at the end, you could also roll them in a kitchen towel and lay them out in a layer to air dry some more.
* In a bowl or pot mix the eggplant with very thick slices of garlic, a few whole hot red peppers, oregano, and olive oil.
* Stuff the eggplant snugly into a jar and cover them completely with regular olive oil. They will be at their best after a month of softening.
* The pickled eggplant may be stored in a cupboard if you take care  to keep it always completely covered with olive oil; to extract portions only with a completely clean utensil; and to never return leftovers to the jar.

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Eggplant Pickled "Sott'olio"
New cold brine

* Use young eggplant, with plump white flesh and invisibly white seeds. Peel them, and cut them in long strips 1/2-inch thick and 2 inch long. Brine them for 3-4 hours in water salty as the sea (1/2-cup kosher salt per 1-quart water). Drain and rinse the eggplant fingers, and spin them dry in a salad spinner..
* Now prepare a vinegar-bring of 1 part white-wine vinegar, 1 part light Italian white wine, and 1 part water. Aromatize the brine with halved garlic cloves; snapped hot red peppers; bay leaves; and black peppercorns. Brine the eggplant fingers for 6-8 hours, under a weighted dish to keep them from floating.
* Drain the eggplant, removing the bay leaves and garlic cloves, and put the fingers in a colander under a weight for a few hours to drain (or as long as overnight), tossing occasionally to abet drainage. (If they still seem too moist at the end, when time to dress them, you could also roll them in a kitchen towel and lay them out in a layer to air dry some more.)
* Smash a big fat garlic hard against a mixing bowl, and rub the bowl all over with garlic milk; then remove and throw away the garlic fragments (but don't bother about the bits). Add the eggplant fingers and dress them generously with extra virgin olive oil and oregano; you could add whole hot red peppers, if you like. Taste and correct for salt and freshly ground black pepper.
* Stuff the eggplant snugly into a jar and cover them completely with regular olive oil. They will be at their best after a week or two of mellowing.
* The pickled eggplant may be stored in a cupboard if you take care to keep it always completely covered with olive oil; to extract portions only with a completely clean utensil; and to never return leftovers to the jar.

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GREENS

Broccoli di Rape Sauteed Garlicky
(from Blog the Fourth)

* Strip all but the most tender stems of their fibrous skin—yes, one by one. Splice any overly thick ones. Leave all to soak in a cold bath.
* Lightly crush garlic cloves; trim their ends off; pull away their peels.
* Toss cloves into a pot of regular olive oil and heat to sizzling; at first sign of gilding, snatch rabe from its bath and thrust it into the pot, quickly salting and covering it, and giving the pot violent shakes.
* Steam the broccoli di rape until limp; remove cover, and let dry off and sauté, until unctious and savorous. Eat dripping, with crusty bread.

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Broccoli di Rape ‘n Linguine
(from Blog the Fourth)

* Strip each stem of its fibrous skin, splitting the fattest ones, and soak them all in a cold bath. Sauté several lightly crushed garlic cloves in a goodly pool of regular olive oil. At first sign of garlic gilding, add wet broccoli to pot off heat, salt broccoli all over, cover pot, and shake it all up.
* Return covered pot to heat and let broccoli steam until softening sets in. Then remove cover to let broccoli dry off and sauté, until tender, glistening, and unctuous.
* Boil linguine (or spaghetti) in abundant well-salted water. When just short of done, transfer with a spork dripping wet to sizzling pot of broccoli.
* Sauté pasta with broccoli for a minute or two, adding pasta water for slipperiness, until pasta is glisten green.
* Consider adding grated Pecorino Romano, perhaps only after first forkful or two.

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Green Chard 'n Potato Mash 
(from Blog the Sixteenth)

* Into a big pot of boiling water, well salted, add the white Swiss chard stems and thick potato rounds a hefty half-inch. (Prefer green Swiss Chard, but other sweet greens, like curly escarole, will do). Boil the stems and potato rounds 5 minutes before adding the chard leaves, trimmed and well rinsed in a few changes of water. Boil the green leaves just until they turn tender, well under 5 minutes. Fish the greens out first, and let the stems and potatoes finish out 10 minutes before removing them as well to the strainer to drain. Salt everything evenly all over still steaming.
* In a pool of regular olive oil over medium heat, fry the par-boiled potato rounds to crispy on one side; at the juncture when the first side is done and you flip the discs to their other side, add in several garlic cloves, either lightly crushed or scored.
* Once the potatoes are golden and crusty, lay the parboiled greens over the sizzling potatoes. Give the greens a few minutes to soften the potatoes before flipping all over to combine. Continue to sauté, and as you go, break up potatoes with your spatula and gently mash them into the greens.
* Taste and correct for salt. Sauté until delicious. Eat with crusty bread. Tomorrow, make a frittata out of leftovers for lunch.

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Red Chard
with Potato 'n Tomato 
(from Blog the Sixteenth)

* Into a big pot of boiling water, well salted, add the red Swiss chard stems and, optionally, potato rounds well shy of 1/2-inch, to boil 5 minutes. Then add the chard leaves, well rinsed twice over, and boil them with the stems and potatoes just until they turn tender, well under 5 minutes. Fish the leaves out of the boiling water, and let the stems and potatoes finish out 10 minutes total before likewise removing them the strainer to drain; salt them evenly all over still steaming.
* In a pool of regular olive oil over medium heat, sauté a generous amount of finely sliced onion, salted, past translucent to blushing golden. Mix in two or three chopped pelati (whole peeled tomatoes, never not imported from Italy), and cook them into the onion for several minutes, just until they marry to form a chunky little onion sauce.
* Add in the red chard and potatoes. Flip and fold them into the oniony tomato sauce, to mix and marry. As they cook together, keep flipping and folding now and again, and break up the potatoes into small chunks, some of which break down into the mix.  Cook until delicious. 
* Taste and correct for salt.  At then end, turn off the heat, and sprinkle with crumbs of Pecorino Romano or other hard cheese, and fold them in.

Greens Sautéed with Garlic & Hot Pepper

* Trim, soak, and rinse well in a few changes of water, endive (a.k.a. curly escarole), escarole, or dandelion. Into a big pot of boiling water, well salted, add the greens, to boil just until tender, under 5 minutes. Fish the greens out of the water and remove to a strainer to drip-dry.
* In a pool of extra virgin olive oil, heat to sizzling fine slices of a garlic clove or two. As soon as the garlic begins to blush golden, remove the pan from the heat.
* Optionally, chop fine a single anchovy fillet or two (free of any packing oil or salt), and mix it into the garlic and oil, mashing it down into a sort of sauce. Then add hot red pepper to the garlic 'n oil, whether whole or flakes. Return the pan to the heat, and heat the oil back up to sizzling, stirring and flipping to keep the garlic (and anchovy) from any browning at all.
* As soon as an aromatic little (anchovy) sauce has formed, add in the par-boiled & drip-dried greens, and turn them over in the oil. Cook gentle but steady, until the greens dry off and sizzle. Taste and correct for salt. Keeping cooking only until the greens glisten delicious.

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Greens & Legumes Pasta Soup

* For sweet greens, like escarole and spinach,
see Pinto Pasta Soup under LEGUMES below.
* For bitter greens, like endive and dandelion,
see Pasta 'n Lentils Soup under LEGUMES below.

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LEGUMES

Pinto Pasta Soup (a.k.a. Pasta e faggioli) 
(from Blog the Seventh)

* At breakfast, sift and wash the beans, and bring them to a boil covered by thrice the water. Boil for only a minute, then cover and leave them sit for the day.
* At dinnertime, put the beans to boil. Meanwhile, sauté finely chopped onion, salted, in a goodly pool of extra virgin olive oil, until pale and perfumey. Add in chopped carrot and celery, salt, and sauté until glisteny. Mix in some chopped tomato for color only, and then dump the whole panful into the boiling pot of beans, with a teaspoon or two of salt. Cook to tender.
* Add coarsely chopped spinach or escarole and cook five minutes. Taste to see if the bean soup want more salt or extra virgin olive oil.
* Boil spoon-size maccheroni in an abundance of well salted water to well short of done. Saving a mugful of the pasta water, barely drain the maccheroni and dump it slushy into the simmering pot of beans, to finish cooking together with them.
* Add pasta water if needed to get it as soupy as you like. Taste again for salt. Add wide swirls of fresh extra virgin olive oil. At table have ready to hand a salt shaker, black pepper mill, and cruet of extra virgin olive oil. Grated cheese is not traditional, but also not not delicious.

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Lentil Pasta Soup 
(from Blog the Seventh)

* Sift and wash the lentils, and bring them to a boil covered by thrice the water.
* Meanwhile, sauté finely chopped onion, salted, in a goodly pool of extra virgin olive oil, until pale and perfumey. Add in chopped carrot and celery, salt, and sauté until glistening. Mix in a some chopped tomato for color only, and then dump the whole panful into the boiling pot of lentils, with a teaspoon or two of salt. Cook to tender.
* Add coarsely chopped spinach, or better yet dandelion or chicory, and cook five minutes more. Taste to see if your lentils want more salt. Top with swirls of fresh extra virgin olive oil.
* Boil spoon-size maccheroni in an abundance of well salted water to well short of done. Saving a mugful of the pasta water, barely drain the maccheroni, and dump it slushy into the simmering pot of lentils, to finish cooking with them.
* Add pasta water if needed to get it as soupy as you like. Taste again for salt. Top it with swirls of fresh extra virgin oil. Serve a cruet of the oil at table with a pepper grinder and salt shaker. Grated cheese not traditional, but not undelicious either.

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MUSHROOMS

Mushrooms Garlicky
(from Blog the Sixth)

* Wash and slice Baby Bella mushrooms.  Melt a wad of butter into a pool of extra virgin olive oil, and add the mushroom slices with showers of salt. 

* Sauté at first on low heat to draw the water out of the mushrooms, then raise heat high to boil all water away. 

* When the sound changes from boiling liquid to sizzling oil, add a goodly amount of chopped garlic and generous grindings of black pepper.  Sauté the mushrooms with the garlic until savory.
* Add chopped parsley and sauté a bit to wilt.  Taste and correct for salt and pepper.

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Mushrooms Garlicky w/Spaghetti
(from Blog the Sixth)

* Melt a fat wad of butter into an expansive pool of extra virgin olive oil. When the butter finishes its foaming, add Baby Bella mushroom slices with showers of salt.
* Sauté at first on low heat to draw the water out of the mushrooms, then on heat high to boil all the water away.
* When the boiling liquid reduces to sizzling oil, add an abundance of chopped garlic and generous grindings of black pepper. Sauté the mushrooms with the garlic until savory. Then add chopped parsley and sauté just to wilt.
* Cook spaghetti (or linguine) in abundant well-salted water. When the spaghetti is still short of al dente, transfer it with a spork dripping wet to the sizzling pan of mushrooms. Sauté the spaghetti with the mushrooms for several minutes, to glaze the spaghetti with mushroom oil and to entangle the mushrooms with the spaghetti, adding pasta water as desirable to keep spaghetti slippery and glistening.
* Eat with grated Pecorino Romano, if you like.

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Baby Bella Mushroom Risotto
(from Blog the Sixth)

* Melt a wad of butter into a pool of extra virgin olive oil, and add Baby Bella mushroom slices with showers of salt.
* Saute at first on low heat to draw the water out of the mushrooms, then on heat high to boil the water away.
* When the boiling liquid reduces to sizzling oil, add a goodly amount of chopped garlic and generous grindings of black pepper. Saute the mushrooms with the garlic until savory. Off heat, add Arborio rice and stir to coat with mushroom oil; then leave it sit.
* When ready to make risotto, reheat rice and keep stirring as rice sautes for a few minutes and turns pearly. Then add a ladleful or two of broth and keep stirring it in, until the mass of rice reduces from soupy to creamy. Then add more broth, and repeat, stirring all the while, until the rice grains are al dente and the mass of rice is fluffy, creamy, and undulating.
* Off heat, mix in a wad of butter and tablespoons of freshly grated Parmigiano. Then cover rice and let rest for a few minutes. Before serving, beat it back to fluffy.

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Mushroom Frittata
(from Blog the Sixth)

* Melt a wad of butter into a pool of extra virgin olive oil, and add Baby Bella mushroom slices with showers of salt.
* Sauté at first on low heat to draw the water out of the mushrooms, then on heat high to boil the water away.
* When the boiling liquid reduces to sizzling oil, add a goodly amount of chopped garlic and generous grindings of black pepper. Sauté the mushrooms with the garlic until savory. Add chopped parsley and sauté a bit to wilt.
* Beat eggs with a tablespoon full of grated Pecorino Romano per egg, plus salt and pepper. Pour the eggs over the mushrooms and mix to distribute the mushrooms.
* Reduce heat to low and wait for a bottom layer to firm up. Then slip a spatula under the layer, all the way around the pan, to allow liquid egg on top to run under. Repeat until sizzling frittata is solid enough to slide onto a light plate; then turn the pan over the plate and gently, calmly, carefully, and gracefully flip over pan and plate together, to drop frittata back into pan.  Finish cooking second side of frittata. (Or, instead of flipping, finish top of frittata under broiler.)
* Slide finished frittata onto a paper towel; use another to to blot excess oil from top of frittata.

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PEAS

Pasta 'n Peas
(from Blog the Fortieth)

* Saute much onion, thinly sliced, in a pool of olive oil with a wad of butter, over medium heat, until golden.
* Add several pelati (whole peeled tomatoes imported from Italy), roughly chopped, perhaps seeded, with a sprinkling of salt. Cook the pelati down for five minutes or so into a chunky little oniony sauce.
* Add in a package of peas and fold them into the sauce, to coat. Shower with salt, cover, and steam for five minutes or so, with a flip or two in between, to glistening.
* Now add boiling water and chicken broth in equal measure, double the bulk of the peas, to cover by an inch or two. Bring the liquid to a simmer, put the cover on the pot ajar, and simmer lively until the peas are tender.
* Boil half a box of spoon-sized pasta (such as orecchiete, small shells, ditalini, or spaghetti snapped into inch-lengths) to still well short of al dente.  Use a small sieve or slotted spoon to transfer the dripping wet pasta from its pot into the simmering peas, to finish cooking together in the pea soup. Add pasta cooking water, if needed.
* Serve in pasta bowls with soup spoons. Have pepper, black and red, at table, as well as grated cheese.

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A Pea Soup
(from Blog the Fortieth)

* Trim two bundles of scallion, quarter them lengthwise, then cut them crosswise into inch-long pieces. Pour out a pool of olive oil into a pot, add a wad of butter, the chopped scallions, a shower of salt and grindings of pepper, then cover the pot and turn on the heat to medium.  Flipping now and again, let the scallions come to a steamy sizzle covered, then remove the cover to let them dry off and sizzle to translucent and redolent.
* Add peas with a shower of salt.  Sauté them until they glisten with the oil. Then add half water and half chicken broth, just to cover. Turn the heat down to simmer gently until peas are tender, ten minutes, more or less.
* Beat an egg or two with grated Pecorino Romano, salt, and pepper, and drizzle it throughout the asparagus broth in the form of a winding river. Let the river solidify a bit before running a fork back and forth to form egg clusters throughout the soup.  Let the egg finish cooking through.  Serve peas 'n eggs in a pool of its broth with crusty bread. (Or else, boil ditalini or pastina to add to soup, in bulk not to exceed peas.)

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Pea, Mushroom, & Artichoke Sauté
(from Blog the Fortieth)

* In a broad chef's pan over medium heat, sauté an abundant amount of finely sliced onion, salted, in a pond of olive oil, covered, until sweaty and glistening with the oil. Uncover, and add one small clove of finely sliced garlic. Continue sautéing uncovered, flipping regularly, until the onion blushes golden.

* Fold in mushrooms with their share of salt and pepper, and saute them with regular flipping to glistening. Fold in artichoke heart quarters and peas with their share of salt and pepper. Saute with gentle flipping and folding until the vegetables glaze over and grow tender.
* Add a wad or two of fresh butter and much freshly chopped parsley, and gently flip and fold until the butter melts and the parsely wilts in. Taste and correct for salt and pepper.

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Squid Braised with Peas
(from Blog the Fortieth)

* Cut squid bodies into inch rings, and soak rings and tentacles in water salty as the sea until ready to cook. Rinse in several changes of water, until the squid stops foaming. Then drain well (and perhaps even spin dry).
* Add squid pieces to a heavy bottomed pot with sprinkling of salt all over, and put over medium heat with lid on. As the squid heats, it will shed its pink water; as soon as that water starts to simmer, dump out the squid into a sieve set in a bowl, to save the squid water for later use.
* Trim at least two bundles of scallion, quarter them lengthwise, then cut them crosswise into inch-long pieces. Pour out a pool of olive oil into a broad chef's pan, add the mound of chopped scallions, a shower of salt and grindings of pepper, then cover the pot and turn on the heat to medium. Flipping frequently, let the scallions come to a steamy sizzle covered. Uncover, and add one small clove of very finely slivered garlic. Continue sautéing uncovered, flipping periodically, until the onion turns translucent and redolent.
* Fold in mushrooms with their share of salt and pepper, and sauté them with regular flipping to glistening. Then add in the squid pieces into the pot, and sauté them with regular flipping to glistening. (Alternatively, you could parboil the mushrooms slices for one minute in salted lemon water, drain well, and add them to the chef's pan together with the squid, sautéeing both together to glistening.)
* Turn the heat up to high and add a glass of white wine to come half way up the squid. Allow the wine to come to a lively simmer before flipping and folding the squid in it. Then lower the heat to medium, and with cover ajar, simmer away the wine at a lively but not roiling simmer.
* When the wine reduces, start to add pink squid water to pan, enough to keep the simmering squid moist and slippery, but not soupy. When the squid has softened but is still too toothsome, fold in the peas for the final 5-10 minutes of cooking, with their share of salt & pepper and some squid water.
* In the final minute, fold in fresh chopped parsley. Taste and correct for enough salt and pepper.

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Chicken Braised with Peas 'n Potatoes

* Salt and pepper chicken parts on both sides. Melt wad of butter in pool of regular olive oil to fill bottom of skillet. Gild parts over medium-high heat on both sides and pile in broad chef's pan.
Strain oil, wipe out pan, and return clean oil to skillet.
* Cut up potatoes into steak-fry wedges and gild in oil over medium heat. Pile with parts in chef's pan
* Off heat, flip and fold much chopped garlic in hot oil. Return skillet to medium heat and sauté garlic to a rosy blush. Now flip and fold peas in garlic 'n oil, sautéeing to shiny. Meanwhile, turn heat on low to warm up chef's pan.
* Add chicken broth to puddle beneath peas, and simmer down to saucy. Then turn up heat to high and add white wine to pool half-way up peas; let come to a lively simmer before flipping and folding peas in wine. Then pour out kit 'n caboodle over chicken and potatoes in chef's pan, turning heat up to medium-high.
* Bring chef's pan to a cheerfully steady simmer, and with lid ajar, finish cooking chicken and potatoes, turning them over now and again, and adding chicken broth as needed to keep all slippery and moist until cooked, but reducing all to glossy by the end.

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PEPPERS

Tangy Red Peppers, Breaded 
(from Blog the Twentieth)

* Slice fresh, plump red peppers into thick inch-slices.
* Sauté a few cracked garlic cloves in olive oil til golden; remove, and add peppers with a generous shower of salt. Cover and steam peppers a bit, then remove cover and sauté lively to al dente.
* Sprinkle peppers with a generous shower of sugar and an even sprinkling all over of vinegar. Let the vinegar work up to a lively simmer before flipping the peppers around again. Let the liquid cook off and the peppers finish cooking. Taste and correct for salt or sugar.
* Sprinkle seasoned breadcrumbs generously but evenly over all the peppers, and flip them around to let the breadcrumbs absord the oil. Then turn off the heat, and keep flipping gently to toast the unguent breadcrumbs.

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Tangy Red Peppers, Almonded
(from Blog the Twentieth)

* Slice 5 or 6 fresh, plump red peppers into thick inch-slices.
* Sauté few cracked garlic cloves in olive oil til golden; remove, and add peppers with a generous shower of salt. Cover and steam peppers a bit, then remove cover and sauté lively until peppers begin to to limp.
* Sprinkle peppers with a 1/4C raisins and 1C slivered roasted almonds. Flip to mix and cook to marry.
* When peppers are al dente, sprinkle with a generous shower of sugar and an even sprinkling all over of vinegar. Let the vinegar work up to a lively simmer before flippping the peppers around. Let the liquid cook off and the peppers finish cooking. Taste and correct for salt or sugar.

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Hot Cherry Peppers Pickled
(from Blog the Forty-first

* Wearing protective gloves, remove the stem of each pepper by cutting a small hole close around it; then poke a finger in to remove the seeds.
* Prepare enough brine to cover: half wine vinegar and half water, a couple of cracked garlic cloves, several bay leaves, and about teaspoon's worth of black peppercorns, and plenty of salt (1/4 cup per qt.). Soak the peppers in the brine for 8 hours. (Alternatively, you could bring the brine to a rolling boil, and boil the peppers for a minute or two.)
* Remove the peppers from the brine and drain them upside down on paper towels, letting them dry off completely.
* Enhance seasoned breadcrumbs (1 teaspoon per pepper?) with very finely chopped garlic & anchovy (1 clove & anchovy per 2/3 peppers?), capers, and oregano. Moisten the breadcrumb with just enough extra virgin olive oil to work them up with a fork into a fluffy meal.
* Use an espresso spoon to stuff each pepper with the breadcrumbs, pressing the breadcrumbs firmly in with a finger.
* Lay the stuffed peppers very snugly into a jar, and cover completely with regular olive oil, tapping the jar to let oil fill in all air pockets.
* The peppers will be at their best after a month or two of mellowing. They can be kept in a cupboard safely only if they are always completely covered with olive oil; and if only a perfectly clean utensil is used to extract them from the jar; and if leftovers are never returned to the jar.

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Green Pepper 'n Onion Sauté

(from Blog the Thirty-third)

*  Slice your onions pencil-thick and your peppers thrice that, in more or less equal measure.  Dump them together into a broad sauté pan, and dress them very generously with regular olive oil, unscantingly with salt and pepper, and scantingly with dried oregano.  Toss to glistening and aromatic.

*  Cover the pan and turn on the heat to medium/medium-high.  When you see the pan get steamy, toss the peppers and onions; when you hear the peppers ‘n onions sizzle, toss them again; when they glisten and smell good, take the cover off the pan.  Let the peppers ‘n onions dry off and fry, with regular tossings in between, to keep the onions from sticking and browning.  If the onions should start browning before the peppers are cooked through, sprinkle all over with some light white wine, to arrest over-browning—however be sure to cook off all that liquid, and get the peppers to glossy again, before they overcook to mushy.  At the end, you want them fork-tender but still plump.

*  Optional:  Beat a couple of eggs with a couple tablespoons of grated Pecorino Romano, some chopped fresh parsley, salt & pepper, and a dollop of milk.  When the peppers are very nearly cooked and glossy, add the egg mixture.  Let it sit until it sets a bit; then flip it over, and into the peppers; let it set some more, before flipping it over and in again.  Cook the egg through, to a solid scramble. 

*  Eat with crusty bread, as you well know by now, I trust.

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Green Peppers, Onions, 'n Potatoes Roasted

(from Blog the Thirty-third)

* Preheat an oven to around 400 degrees.

*  Slice your onions 1/3-, your potatoes 2/3-, your peppers 3/3 inches, in more or less equal quantities.  Dump them together into a broad roasting pan, and dress them very generously with regular olive oil, unscantingly with salt and pepper, and scantingly with dried oregano.  Toss to glistening and aromatic.

*  Put the pan into the pre-heated oven, to roast the peppers and onions.  Toss them every 10-5 minutes or so (less frequently at first, more so later), in particular to keep the onion from sticking and browning.  You want the peppers and potatoes to soften to fork tender before the onions brown, so if the onions start to brown too much, sprinkle everything with a light white wine to slow down the browning.

* When all glistens appetizingly and yields tender to a prodding fork, it’s ready.  It might like some cooling before serving, especially those potatoes.

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 Green Pepper 'n Onion Frittata

(from Blog the Thirty-third)

*  Slice your peppers into inch-slices and your onions less than half that, in more or less equal quantities.  Dump them together into a non-stick frying pan, and dress them very generously with regular olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss to glistening and aromatic.

*  Cover the pan and turn on the heat to medium-high.  When you see the pan get steamy, toss the peppers and onions; when you hear the peppers ‘n onions sizzle, toss them again; when they glisten and smell good, take the cover off the pan, and adjust heat for a steady and cheerful but not angry sizzle. 

*  Let the peppers ‘n onions dry off and fry, with regular tossings in between to keep the onions from sticking and browning; if the onions should start browning before the peppers are cooked, sprinkle with some light white wine, to slow browning—however be sure to cook off all that liquid and get the peppers to glossy again before they overcook .  At the end, you want those peppers fork-tender but still plump.
* Beat a half dozen eggs, more or less, with a rounded tablespoon full of grated Pecorino Romano per egg, a dollop or two of milk, plus salt and pepper. Pour the eggs over the sizzling peppers and onions and mix to distribute all evenly.
* Reduce heat to low.  Patiently wait for a bottom layer to firm up.  Then slip a spatula under the layer, all the way around the pan, to allow liquid egg on top to run under; maybe make a slit in the middle too, to let egg run under at the center.  Repeat a second time, if necessary, until the formative frittata is solid enough to slide onto a light plate.

* Slide the frittata out of the pan, pouring out excess fat on top of it.  Then turn the pan over the plate, and gently, calmly, carefully, even gracefully, flip over pan and plate together, to drop frittata back into pan.  Remove the plate and return the pan to low heat, to finish cooking the second side of frittata. (If faint of heart, instead of sliding and flipping, finish top of frittata under broiler.)
* Slide finished frittata onto a paper towel; use another to blot excess oil from top of frittata. Tastes good hot, lukewarm, cooled, even cold out of the frig.

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POTATOES

White Potato Salad
(from Blog the Thirty-fifth)

* Either boil potatoes whole, all'italiana, until fork-tender to the center, then let cool, peel by hand, and cut up into demilunes, rounds, or slices, as large as you like;
or else, in modo barbaro, peel and cut up the potatoes raw, as you like, and boil to tender, and drain.
* Rub platter or bowl with the milk of a crushed garlic clove. Discard clove halves and add potatoes.
* Layer dressing as follows: First drizzle generously all over with light olive oil. Then salt evenly all over with an even showering of salt; grind black pepper lightly all over; and shoot a pinch or two of dried oregano here and there. Now sprinkle temperantly all over with wine vinegar and/or lemon squirts. At last, top off with a generous drizzling all over of extra virgin olive oil.
* Now slide a spatula under the potatoes to flip them over and fold them into one another, gently, gently, but patiently, thoroughly, to mix the dressing and dress the potatoes.
* Taste and correct: if not succulent with oil, add more; if too vinegary, add a little more lemon; if too lemony, add a little more vinegar; if bland, more salt and/or oregano--but easy does it with the oregano.
* When glistening, redolent, and tasty, eat, warm or cool, but not hot or cold.

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Pink Potato Salad,
with Beets & an option for green beans.
(from Blog the Thirty-fifth)

* If you have fresh beet greens, then bring a big pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil, and boil the greens for a few minutes, just until tender. Fish them out and remove to a colander to drip dry. (Unless you're opting for Tricolor Salad, in which case trim and halve string beans, and boil them until fork tender, and remove them to a colander to drip dry.)
* Boil the beets and potatoes together whole, until fork-tender to the center. Then cool enough to peel by hand, and cut up into demilunes, rounds, or slices, as large as you like.
* Dress the beets first. Rub a bowl with the milk of a crushed garlic clove, add the cut up beets, and dress them:
with a generous drizzle all over over of extra virgin olive oil; a good showering of salt, grindings of black pepper, and pinches of oregano; and a generous sprinkling all over of wine vinegar.
* Now slide a spatula under the beets to flip them over and fold them into one another, over and over, thoroughly, to mix the dressing and dress the beets.
* Now slide the potatoes on top of the dressed beets, and dress the potatoes more lightly:
generously drizzle light olive oil all over them; season evenly all over with a shower of salt, grindings of pepper, and a pinch of oregano; sprinkle temperantly all over with squirts of lemon juice; top off with another drizzling of olive oil.
* Now use a spatula to very gently flip, fold, mix, and marry the potatoes and beets. When the potatoes are as pink as you like, you're done dressing. Time to platter . . .
* If you have beet greens, first rub a serving platter with a halved garlic clove, and then lay the greens out. Season them evenly all over with light olive oil, squirts of lemon juice, and a light shower of salt. Then pour out the beets and potatoes along the platter attractively.
* To opt for Tricolor Potato Salad, separately dress beets, potatoes, and also string beans, and then mix them together to mix, marry, and consummate. Platter as pleases.

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Green Potato Salad,
  with Green Beans & an option for onions.
(from Blog the Thirty-fifth)

* Boil potato wedges (I like half-inch demi-lunes), in salted water in the bottom pot of a doubler-boiler, while steaming the string beans, trimmed and halved, in the top steamer. Cook the potatoes and beans to tender firm, and drain, each in due time, together in the same strainer.
While the potatoes and beans are still steaming in the strainer, salt them evernly all over with an even showering of salt; grind black pepper lightly all over; and shoot a pinch or two of dried oregano at them. Allow them to cool down, whether to luke-warm or room-cool,
unless of course . . .
* . . . you're opting for boiled onions, whether white or yellow. In that case, boil your potatoes whole together with a whole onion or two, to fork-tender. Let cool, to peel by hand. Then slice your potatoes up into demi-lunes, and your onions perhaps half as thick as your potatoes,
unless of course . . .
* . . . you prefer raw red onion. In that case, boil the potatoes and green beans in any way, shape, or size you please, and meanwhile soak thin slices of red onion in salted water, to take off some of their pungency. Drain and and dry when ready to mix in.
* Rub platter or bowl with the milk of a crushed garlic clove. Discard clove halves. Add potatoes 'n green beans together with any elected onions.
* Layer dressing as follows: First drizzle generously all over with light olive oil. Then salt evenly all over with an even showering of salt; grind black pepper lightly all over; and shoot a pinch or two of dried oregano here and there. Now sprinkle temperantly all over with wine vinegar and/or lemon squirts. At last, top off with a generous drizzling all over of extra virgin olive oil.
* Now slide a spatula under and over, to flip and fold, mix and marry, gently but thoroughly.
* Taste and correct: if not succulent with oil, add more; if too vinegary, add a little more lemon; if too lemony, add a little more vinegar; if bland, more salt and/or oregano--but easy does it with the oregano.
* Eat glistening, redolent, and tasty, whether warm or cool, but not hot or cold.

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Pasta 'n Potatoes

(from Blog the Thirty-ninth)

*  Sauté an abundant amount of finely sliced onion, salted, in a pond of olive oil, covered, until sweaty and glistening with the oil. Uncover, and add one small clove of finely sliced garlic. Continue sautéing uncovered, flipping periodically, until the onion blushes golden.
*  Meanwhile, slice carrot and celery to together equal the onion in bulk.  Slice them into slender discs, demilunes, or crescents, depending on size. Fold them into the onion blushed golden, with their share of salt. Sauté to glistening and aromatic.
*  Mix in pelati (whole tomatoes, imported from Italy!), seeded and chopped, with salt, to equal in bulk the aromatics. Add a hot red pepper or two, if you like it hot. Sauté the tomatoes for five minutes, down to a chunky aromatic sauce.
*  Meanwhile, cut peeled potato halves a few times lengthwise, and then crosswise pencil-thick, for spoonable cuts of potato; soak in water until ready to add to the sauce.
*  When the sauce is sauce, fold the potato pieces with their share of salt into the chunky aromatic sauce, and cover to steam to glistening, with a flip or two in between. When they glisten, add equal amounts chicken broth and boiling water, to cover by a few inches. Bring this liquid to a steady simmer, and simmer the potatoes to tender, 10-15 minutes. Taste and correct for more salt, pepper, or oil.
*  Boil pasta in water salty as the sea, at a rolling boil, until still too al dente. With a sieve or slotted spoon, transfer the pasta dripping to the simmering potato minestra, and finish cooking for a minute or two in the potato minestra.  As soon as the pasta is barely al dente, remove the pot from the heat and let rest.
*  Before serving, mix in Pecorino-Romano crumbled, grated, or both, with more for the table, along with pepper, black, red, or both.

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Potatoes Sautéed Garlicky 
(from Blog the First)

* Roughly mash boiled and peeled potatoes (flaky rough-skins, like Russett).
* Melt a wad of butter into extra virgin olive oil, and gild lightly crushed garlic cloves in it. Add mashed potatoes and toss with oil.
* Let potatoes brown; be sure to let potatoes get crusty before flipping them over; repeat, until the golden mass is so mottled with browned crunchiness as to no longer resist your eating them.
* Eat with crusty bread and dry roasted meats.

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Potatoes Sautéed with Greens & Garlic 
(from Blog the Sixteenth)
* See Green Chard 'n Potato Mash.

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Potatoes Sautéed with Greens & Tomato 
(from Blog the Sixteenth)
* See Red Chard with Potato & Tomato.

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Potatoes Braised with Savoy Cabbage

(from Blog the Thirty-ninth)

* See Savoy Cabbage Braise.

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Potatoes Braised with Artichoke Hearts (or Brussel Sprouts)

(from Blog the Ninth).
* See Artichoke Hearts Braised with Potatoes,
or Brussel Sprouts Braised with Potatoes.

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Potatoes Braised with Brussel Sprouts
* See Brussel Sprouts Braised with Potatoes..

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Potatoes Roasted with Green Peppers 'n Onions

(from Blog the Thirty-third)
* See Green Peppers, Onions & Potatoes Roasted.

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Chicken Parts Roasted with Potatoes 'n Onions
(from Blog the Twelfth)

* Take a whole chicken cut up, or else big fat thighs and drumsticks (perhaps slit to the bone), and put them to soak in a brine of 1/4-cup salt in 1-qt. water, all day, all night, or not less than 3 hours, if you have time for it. If you brine, be sure to rinse and dry the pieces well before dressing them for roasting.
* Cut up potatoes (maybe 4?) into big wedges (quartering mid-sized ones?), and put them to soak in cold water until you're ready to use them. Likewise be sure to dry them well before dressing.
* Combine the chicken parts and potato wedges in a spacious roasting pan (cozy is okay, but not piled), dress them liberally with regular olive oil, salt 'n pepper, and some dried oregano. Holding back any breasts, put the rest in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, to blush golden, adding in the breasts half way through, and turning things over once or twice, just to prevent any stick-'n-burn.
* Meanwhile, slice big onions not too thinly (maybe 1/8-inch? but surely not more than 1/4-inch!), and in a mixing bowl dress them liberally with extra virgin olive oil, a shower of salt, fresh grindings of ground black pepper, and sprinklings of dried oregano. Also add several roughly chopped pelati (whole peeled tomatoes imported from Italy!), but only enough for color. Mix all well to marry the sundry savors and scents. (If it doesn't scent great, you've been cheap with the savors, so add some more.)
* When the chicken parts have blushed golden, strew the seasoned onions over them and turn the heat up to 450 degrees. Finish baking for another 20-30 minutes, turning things over frequently enough to keep everything browning evenly.
* When it's lovely, it's ready. Remove it from the oven and lay the chicken parts out on the serving platter with the potatoes piled among and upon them, that the dissipating heat of the potaotes keep the chicken the warmer and moister. (P.S. Be sure to fill that roasting pan with water for a soak to make scrubbing easy later, or better yet, next morning.)

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ROOTS & BULBS

Beet Salad
(from Blog the Thirty-fifth)

* If you have fresh beet greens, then bring a big pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil, and boil the greens for a few minutes, just until tender. Fish them out and remove to a colander to drip dry. Then boil the beets in the same water. If you don't have fresh beet greens, . . .
* . . . you can opt to bake your beets instead. Wrap them tightly in aluminum foil and put them in a 400 degree oven on a drip-pan.
* Whether boiling or baking, cook the beets until fork-tender to the center (about 30min. for small, 60 for big, as long as 90 for huge).
* Then either cool long enough to peel by hand, or else slice off the ends and spear the whole beet with a fork from the side, and use the fork to rotate the beet as you scrape off all its skin with the back of the knife. Then cut it up into demilunes, rounds, or slices, as large as you like.
* Layer dressing as follows: first rub a mixing bowl with the milk of a crushed garlic clove and add the cut up beets; now douse the beets with a heavy drizzling all over over of extra virgin olive oil; a good showering of salt, grindings of black pepper, and pinches of oregano; and a generous sprinkling all over of wine vinegar.
* Slide a spatula under the beets to flip them over and fold them into one another, over and over, thoroughly, to mix the dressing and dress the beets.
* If you have beet greens, first rub a serving platter with a halved garlic clove, and then lay the greens out. Season them evenly all over with light olive oil, squirts of lemon juice, and a light shower of salt. Then pour out the beets attractively along its green bed on the platter.

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Beet & Potato Salad,
with an option for Green Beans.
(from Blog the Thirty-fifth)
* See Pink Potato Salad under POTATOES.

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Carrots Lemony 
(from Blog the Fifth)

* Boil baby carrots al dente in well salted water, with several peppercorns and a bay leaf. Drain, and while still steaming in the sieve, let them be seasoned with much salt, black pepper, and pinches of oregano.
* When the steaming ceases, sprinkle evenly all over with wine vinegar, allowing excess to drain through sieve.
* Crush a garlic clove hard against the bottom of a bowl, and use the halves to rub the bowl. Add carrots and very generously dress them with extra virgin olive oil. Flip them over and over to marinate. Let steep all afternoon. Either flip them every so often in the extra virgin olive oil, or else cover them with regular olive oil and leave them be (if you opt to cover, when time comes to serve, use a slotted spoon to remove them to the serving dish, leaving behind excess oil).
* Before serving, sprinkle with lemon juice; taste and correct for tartness, salt, and spice.

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Celery Risotto
* Look under RECIPES! for RISOTTO.

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Chicken Parts w/ Carrots, Celery, & Onion
* See Chicken Braised Blonde under RECIPES! for CHICKEN.

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Fennel Salad

* Choose a big fat round bulb of fennel, not an oblong one. Remove the tough outer layers, and use only the white, tender heart for salad.
* Halve the bulb lengthwise, and lay each half flat-side down on a cutting board; if the halves are large, halve then lengthwise again into quarters. Then slice away a bit of the scabby bottom and tops, preserving only what looks tender-white and lovely. Then slice crosswise into oblong chunks into fork-friendly pieces shy of a half-inch wide. Break up the chunks and put them to soak in a bowl of cold water. (You could even opt to chill it in the fridge.)
* When time to serve nears, drain the fennel and lay out on on a paper towel to dry off.
* When time to serve, in a bowl, layer dressing, as usual:
a first layer of light olive oil evenly all over;
a generous shower of salt evenly all over, and fresh grindings of black pepper;
a goodly sprinkling of wine vinegar, and perhaps squirts of lemon as well (if Greek, you may opt for lemon alone);
and finally a final drizzling all over of extra virgin olive oil.
* Toss well to mix dressing and dress fennel; then taste and correct for more of whatever, as usual, of course.

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STRING BEANS

String Bean 'Salad'  (so to speak)
(from Blog the Thirty-fifth)

* Wash and trim your string beans, leaving them long, or cutting them in halves, perhaps thirds, but by no means infantalizing them to bite-sized.
* Steam the string beans over very heavily salted water (to keep them green), just until fork-tender. As soon as you smell them, taste for tenderness. (If you overdo it, then straight from the boiling water throw them into a big bowl of very cold water, to firm up.)
* Salt them well, still steaming in a strainer, evenly all over with a shower of salt; grind black pepper lightly all over; and shoot a pinch or two of dried oregano at them. Allow them to cool down, whether to luke-warm or room-cool.
* Rub platter or bowl with the milk of a crushed garlic clove. You can leave the clove halves to toss with the beans, if you trust your eaters to know not to eat them; if they may not be trusted, discard clove halves. Either way, the green beans. Layer dressing as follows: first drizzle generously all over with light olive oil; next sprinkle temperantly all over with wine vinegar and/or lemon squirts; lastly, top with a generous drizzling all over of extra virgin olive oil.
* Now slide a spatula under the beans to flip them over and fold them into one another, gently, gently, but patiently, thoroughly, to mix the dressing and dress the beans.
* Taste and correct: if not succulent with oil, add more; if too vinegary, add a little more lemon; if too lemony, add a little more vinegar; if bland, more salt and/or oregano--but easy does it with the oregano.
* When glistening, redolent, and tasty, eat, perhaps still lukewarm, perhaps cooled to room, perhaps even a bit chilled.

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Green Bean 'n Potato Salad
(from Blog the Thirty-fifth)
* Look under POTATOES.

String Beans Lemony 
(from Blog the Thirty-fifth)

* Wash and trim your string beans, leaving them long, or cutting them in halves, perhaps thirds, but by no means infantalizing them to bite-sized.
* Steam the string beans over very heavily salted water (to keep them green), just until fork-tender. As soon as you smell them, taste for tenderness.
* While the beans are steaming, rub a serving platter or bowl with the milk of a crushed garlic clove. You can leave the clove halves to toss with the beans, if you trust your eaters to know not to eat them; if they may not be trusted, discard clove halves.
* When the beans are tender-firm, dump them steaming into the garlic scented dish. Salt them well evenly all over with a shower of salt; grind black pepper lightly all over; and shoot a pinch or two of dried oregano at them.
* Next layer dressing as follows: first drizzle generously all over with light olive oil; next sprinkle temperantly all over with lemon squirts; top at last with a generous drizzling all over of extra virgin olive oil.
* Now slide a spatula under the beans to flip them over and fold them into one another, over and over, to mix the dressing and dress the beans. Taste and correct: more extra virgin? more lemon? more salt, pepper, or oregano?
* Serve hot, fresh, and aromatic.

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ZUCCHINI

Zucchini Grilled
(from Blog the First)

* Grill zucchini, sliced lengthwise pencil-thick, on a ridged grill, charring it like a steak. It will look shriveled until dressed.
* Dress with both virgin and regular olive oil; both wine vinegar and lemon; both chopped parsley and basil; salt, black pepper, and oregano; and finely chopped garlic.
* Gently toss, to blend dressings and imbue zucchini.

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Zucchini Oniony
(from Blog the Seventeenth)

* Slice a lot of onion thinly, and slice the zucchini into pencil-thick demilunes.
* Salt and steam the onion in olive oil, covered, until sweaty. Then uncover and sauté the onion to golden.
* Add some chopped tomato, along with torn basil leaves, and cook it down for 5 minutes into a little salsina.
* Add then mix in the the zucchini, salt it, and cover to sweat; then uncover and sauté to glistening, tender, and tasty.
* Beat a tablespoon or two of grated Pecorino Romano into an egg or two, along with a dollop of milk, salt and pepper, and fresh chopped parsley. Pour the seasoned egg over the zucchini and leave it to firm up underneath; then flip the zucchini over to turn the egg over, and let it firm up some more, before flipping all over again to distribute the scrambled egg kerchiefs throughout the zucchini.
* Just before serving, sprinkle in crumbled bits of Pecorino Romano, off heat, and mix in just long enough to soften and distribute; alternatively, mix in grated cheese.

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Zucchini Lemony (Be it green or, better yet, yellow.)

* Soak, brush, and wash your zucchini well. Slice it into thick rounds, as much as an inch thick, and not less than a half-inch.
* Steam the rounds over very heavily salted water, just until barely fork-tender. As soon as you smell them, taste for tender yet still firm.
* While the zucchini is steaming, rub a serving platter or bowl with the milk of a crushed garlic clove. You can leave the clove halves to toss with the beans, if you trust your eaters to know not to eat them; if they may not be trusted, discard clove halves.
* As soon as the zucchini is tender-firm, dump the rounds still steaming into the garlic scented dish. Salt them well evenly all over with a shower of salt and grind black pepper lightly all over. If you have a fresh sweet herb, such as mint, basil, or thyme, toss some in. If not, consider shooting a pinch or two of dried basil or marjoram at your zucchini.
* Next layer dressing as follows: first drizzle generously all over with light olive oil; next sprinkle temperantly all over with lemon squirts; top at last with a generous drizzling all over of extra virgin olive oil.
* Now slide a spatula under the rounds to gently flip them over and fold them into one another, just enough to mix the dressing and dress the rounds without breaking them down. Taste and correct: more extra virgin? more lemon? more salt, pepper?
* Serve hot, fresh, and aromatic.

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Zucchini 'n Penne
(from Blog the Seventeenth)

* Look under RECIPES! for PASTA SAUTES.

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