PASTA WITH GREENS AND FETA

Preparation Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Here is a painless way to slip some of those ultranutritious bitter greens into your diet. You can use any combination of kale, mustard, collard, dandelion, escarole, chard, or spinach. Escarole and spinach go well together.

The instructions call for “short, substantial pasta,” and a few forms are suggested. This kind of sauce, with tender pieces of onion and bite-sized flecks of greens, studded with soft crumbs of feta cheese, adheres best to small shapely units of pasta. Each mouthful of this dish packs in a beautiful integration of textures.

The sauce can be made a day or two ahead of time. Reheat it gently on the stove when you put up the pasta water to boil.

3 to 6 tablespoons olive oil

4 cups chopped onion

7 to 8 cups (packed) mixed

bitter greens, washed, dried,

and coarsely chopped

salt to taste

¾ to 1 pound penne, fusilli shells,

or some comparable short,

Substantial pasta

½ to ¾ pound feta cheese, crumbled

freshly grated parmesan cheese,

to taste (optional)

freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven. Add the onions and cook for

about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, put the

pasta water to boil.

2. Add chopped greens to the skillet, salt lightly, and stir until the greens begin to

Wilt. Cover and cook 10 to 15 minutes over medium-low heat.

3. Cook the pasta until al dente. Just as it becomes ready, add the crumbled feta

Cheese to the sauce. (Keep the heat on low as you add the cheese.)

4. When the pasta is done, scoop it out with a strainer (in however many batches it

Takes), hold it over its cooking water momentarily to drain, then add it directly

To the potful of sauce. Mix thoroughly.

5. Cook the completed dish just slightly over low heat for a few minutes. Add a

Small amount of freshly ground black pepper. Then serve immediately,

Preferably on warmed plates.