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You should not easily settle for anything but fresh spinach, because that is what you really ought to have to achieve the flavor of which this dish is capable. On the other hand, if good, fresh spinach is not available, you can turn to frozen leaf spinach. However incomplete may be the satisfactions it brings, it is a tolerable alternative.

For 6 servings

2 pounds fresh, crisp spinach OR 2 ten-ounce packages frozen whole leaf spinach, thawed

Salt

2 large garlic cloves, peeled

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1. If using fresh spinach: If it is very young, snap off and discard just the hard end of the stems. If it is mature, or if you are in doubt, pull away and discard the entire stem. Soak and rinse the spinach leaves in several changes of cold water.

Cook the leaves in a covered pan with 1 tablespoon salt to keep their color bright and no more water than what clings to them from their soak. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes, depending on the spinach. Drain well, but do not squeeze it, and set aside.

If using thawed frozen spinach: Cook with a pinch of salt in a covered pan for 1 minute. Drain and set aside.

2. Put the garlic and olive oil in a skillet, and turn on the heat to medium high. Cook and stir the garlic until it becomes colored a nut brown, then take it out. Add the spinach, tasting and correcting it for salt. Cook for 2 minutes, turning it over completely several times to coat it well. Transfer the spinach with all its flavored oil to a warm platter, and serve at once.

Oven-Browned Tomatoes

IF YOU HAVE never seen how an Italian cook bakes tomatoes at home, you may be startled to find that these tomatoes cook down so long that they come out of the oven looking deflated and blackened around the edges. They are neither burnt nor dried out, however. They have shed the excess water that dilutes their flavor, and their juices are pure essence of tomato. They are delicious to eat on their own or together with other summer vegetables or with simple meat dishes. See serving suggestion.

For 4 to 6 servings

9 fresh, ripe, round tomatoes of medium size

3 tablespoons parsley chopped very fine

2 teaspoons garlic chopped very fine

Salt

Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. Wash the tomatoes and cut them in two at their widest point.

3. Choose a baking dish that can accommodate all the tomato halves snugly, but without overlapping. They can be squeezed in tightly because they will shrink considerably. Arrange them with their cut side facing up, and sprinkle them with the parsley, garlic, salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Pour the olive oil over them and place the dish on the uppermost rack of the preheated oven.

4. Cook for 1 hour or more, until the tomatoes have shrunk to little more than half their original size. The skins and sides of the pan should be partly blackened, but not burnt. Transfer to a serving platter, using a slotted spoon or spatula to leave the cooked oil behind. Serve hot, lukewarm, or at room temperature.

Fried Tomatoes

THERE IS no vegetable that does not take well to frying, and among them none that can surpass tomatoes. The combination of outer crispness and inner moistness that you can achieve only through this fastest of all cooking methods attains ideal proportions in a perfectly fried tomato.

For 4 servings

2 to 3 fresh, ripe, very firm, round tomatoes

1 egg

Flour, spread on a plate

Unflavored bread crumbs, lightly toasted, spread on a plate

Vegetable oil

Salt

1. Wash the tomatoes in cold water, and cut them horizontally into slices about ½ inch thick. Discard the tops. Gently pick out the seeds without squeezing the slices.

2. Beat the egg lightly in a deep dish or small bowl.

3. Turn the tomato slices over in flour, dip them in egg, letting the excess flow back into the dish, then dredge them in bread crumbs, coating both sides.

4. Pour enough oil in a skillet to come 1 inch up its sides, and turn on the heat to high. When