Spaghetti with Bitter Greens, Pine Nuts and Golden Raisins

Someone (alright already, it was Laurie Colwin) once said that real men don’t eat bitter greens. By now I think we’ve all heard that real men don’t eat quiche, but bitter greens is a new one to me. I hadn’t any previous evidence for or against this statement, so to test this theory I invited self-described “real man” Zeljko (seen here in the mirror looking frighteningly like Balki Bartokomous) to dinner. He was quite enthusiastic about the dish, twirling the spaghetti directly into his mouth with gusto and panache.

When I asked him how he liked the bitter greens he said, “These? They’re not so bitter.” But he also admitted that most guys who call themselves “real men” probably wouldn’t consider him to be included in that category. Back to square one.

Please let me know your own findings on this matter. If correct, this premise could make an excellent dating barometer and I’m telling you straight, gentle readers, that a dating barometer in Brooklyn is handier than a big stick in Mypos.
A big stick to herd sheep, see?

From my point of view, anyway, hearty bitter greens are a perfect mid-winter pick-me-up when springy green freshness is still a few inches below ground. And these velvety astringent greens are a perfect polygamous marriage with a toothsome pasta, sweet chewy raisins, and toasted pine nuts. Real or fake, most men are sure to be pleased by this cravable dish. And if you sense hesitancy, reference Popeye and his whole spinach/man thing, and note the splooshes of wine. That’ll have ‘em doing the Dance of Joy.

Hat tip to Nex0s for the recipe idea!

Serves: 2
Time: 20 minutes

Spaghetti with Bitter Greens, Pine Nuts and Golden Raisins

½ pound of spaghetti
2/3 cup of golden raisins
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 head of bitter greens like escarole, chard, chicory. I used escarole.
¼ cup of white wine
salt, pepper, more olive oil to taste
parmesan cheese, optional

Put a big pot of salted water on to boil for the spaghetti and put the golden raisins in a bowl of hot water to soak for a while to plump up.

While the water is heating and raisins are plumping, add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet and with the heat on medium sauté the pine nuts for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté together with the pine nuts until everything is golden brown – less than 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn the garlic or pine nuts.

Wash the greens thoroughly, cut off any stemy bits and chop the leaves into halves or thirds.

Add the prepared greens to the sauté pan and cook. Drain the raisins and add those too. At the same time the greens start cooking you can add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for about 7 minutes or until done but with some bite left to it.

Once the escarole has wilted add the white wine and a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta well and toss with the greens mixture. Adjust the seasonings and add another pour of olive oil, of desired.

Serve with a dish of grated parmesan cheese, if you’d like.

A big kiss and hearty thank you to my oldest sister, The EnvironmentalSis, for these awesome plates.  So cool!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 at 10:59 pm and is filed under Pasta, Pizzas, & Grains, Stovetop & Skillet, Any Season, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.