The only thing I crave after cooking all day
and a half-birthday AMA
Here at 40 Ingredients Forever, recipes are abundant in flavor and joy yet streamlined in process—because they’re all made of the same 40 ingredients.
One work hazard of recipe developing is that your body goes through it. After bites of so many different dishes all day long, my stomach feels like it’s asking me, “why?” “Do you need consume the food version of jungle juice every day?”
By the time it’s dinnertime, I should probably eat a real meal, and the only thing that ever sounds good is a big heap of greens. To use a
term, this is my house meal: basic in parts and process, adaptable, fast to make, dependable enough to fall back on, enjoyable even when my body is mad.
My greens are usually kale, sometimes broccoli rabe or spinach, and occasionally dandelion greens, collard greens, Swiss chard, or a mix. If I have fewer than 10 minutes to cook, the greens are stir-fried until just tender and charred in spots (like here), maybe with an egg and/or toast or tortillas. (If I’m very lucky, it’ll be pea greens, cooked like
does.) If I have 20 minutes, they’ll be steamed over rice. And if I have 30, they’re simmered until mossy-green and silky-sweet.The difference between swampy boiled greens and rich braised greens is salt, time, and fat (often olive oil). Together, they accentuate the silkiness and deliciousness of the greens. The other thing to add, if you have them, is herbs, because “they…make us feel alive, as if we have bitten into and tasted the very essence of our beautiful living planet,” according to Emily Nunn. Usher in spring’s soft herbs like cilantro, dill, and parsley by enjoying them not by the pinch but by the bunch.
And I really mean by the bunch: Today’s recipe has two cups, ideally a mix of dill and something milder like parsley or cilantro. Use everything you get from the store: The leaves and tender stems, yes, but then keep going down to just above the roots. Those stems have all the flavor of the leaves but behave more like celery than a delicate green. You can finely chop them for crunch in a salad, or cook them down with aromatics.
Speaking of: This recipe cooks those two cups of herbs along with the heartier greens so they shift from bright and fleeting to rich and grounding. When tangled with the other greens, the result is moreish, so full of the very essence of our beautiful living planet.
If that’s not enough to sell you on eating a bowl of greens for dinner, know that today’s version is topped with some broiled feta, gooey and salty and sizzling. Why not! This house meal has spanakopita and saganaki on the mind.
Recipe Family Tree
Going forward, posts will include a new feature that shows the lineage of the day’s recipe so you can see what it’s related to and how it came to be. If today’s recipe isn’t exactly what you want, maybe one of these inspirations will be.
- 's Spanakopita
- 's White Pizza-Style Kale
Green Rice with Singed Feta from I Dream of Dinner
Tomorrow: an AMA
Tomorrow marks six months since 40 Ingredients Forever was born and boy am I happy it exists. To celebrate its half birthday, I’ll send out a thread tomorrow where paid subscribers can ask me whatever they want: about cooking, career stuff, favorite colors, etc. I’ll leave it open for 24 hours and answer it throughout the day/over the weekend.
