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2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound Italian sausage (pork or turkey), casings removed and meat crumbled

1 onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound kale, mustard greens, or collard greens, chopped (about 12 cups lightly packed; remove and discard tough stems)

1 quart diced tomatoes with juice, or 1 (28-ounce) can

1 cup chicken broth (page 127)

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pound short pasta, such as rotini or medium shells

1½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 Begin heating a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

2 Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, onion, and garlic, and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat with a spoon, until browned, about 8 minutes. Add the greens and sauté until limp, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, broth, and red pepper flakes, if using. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the greens are silky in texture or cooked to your liking, 10 to 30 minutes.

3 Cook the pasta in the boiling water until just barely al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water, and then drain. Add the pasta to the sauce, mix well, and cook until the pasta is tender, about 1 minute, adding the reserved cooking water if the pasta seems dry.

4 Mix in 1 cup of the Parmesan. Serve immediately, passing the remaining ½cup Parmesan at the table.

Braised Kale on toast

Serves 4

Some recipes are so simple, so natural, that it’s amazing they aren’t already part of your repertoire. That’s how I felt when I first read this recipe, which is adapted from The Zuni Café Cookbook. Often such simple recipes are examples of the finest rustic European farmhouse recipes and utterly dependent on using top-quality ingredients. So use your best chicken broth and olive oil and your finest rustic bread (the bread can be slightly stale). Don’t forget the prosciutto, and don’t rush the eggs as they cook. A rough red table wine and Edith Piaf are the perfect accompaniments.

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 pound kale, thinly sliced (about 12 cups lightly packed; remove and discard tough stems)

2 large garlic cloves, minced Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

3 cups chicken broth (page 127), water, or a combination of the two

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 slices rustic white bread

3–4 garlic cloves, halved

8 eggs

2 ounces prosciutto, torn into bite-size bits

1 Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the kale, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes, and stir until the kale is fully wilted, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the broth. Bring to a simmer, cover, and continue to simmer until the kale is completely tender, about 20 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

2 Toast the bread in a toaster or under a broiler. Rub both sides of the toast with the halved garlic. Arrange two pieces of toast in the bottom of each of four wide soup bowls.

3 Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over low heat. Crack the eggs into a small bowl or dish (taking care not to break the yolks). Gently slide the eggs into the skillet and cover with a lid. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the egg whites solidify. Do not rush this process! Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4 Mound the kale with some of the broth on the toast in each bowl and top with two fried eggs. Scatter the prosciutto over the dish and serve immediately.

10

Baked Goods and Desserts

The thrifty householder wastes nothing. Apples that are too old to eat out of hand are made into delectable desserts. Yesterday’s leftover mashed potatoes are baked into today’s dinner rolls, and leftover winter squash is baked into a cake. Maybe hunger—or sheer economic necessity—doesn’t drive us anymore, but it has never made sense to waste good food.

Empty calories have never made sense either. Why eat a dessert of no nutritional value when you can get a heaping