Spaghettini with Checca Sauce

Ingredients

• 8 ounces spaghettini or angel hair pasta
• 4 scallions (white and pale green parts only), coarsely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 (12-ounce container) cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 (1-ounce) piece Parmesan, coarsely chopped
• 8 to 10 fresh basil leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the next 7 ingredients in a food processor. Pulse just until the tomatoes are coarsely chopped (do not puree). Drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water. Toss the pasta with the tomato mixture and fresh mozzarella in a large bowl. Add some of the reserved pasta water (about 1/4 cup) if the sauce looks dry. Serve immediately.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Recommended by Betsy Buford 'Sooo good. Err on the side of too many tomatoes, or it could get onion-y'

Stewed Greens

I learned this easy way of cooking greens in the cookbook Artichokes to Za'atar. It's worked nicely with all sorts of greens, from beet to collared. More tender greens take less time to cook. Beet greens have taken about 10 minutes; collareds about 20.

olive oil
any sort of onion, diced
1 bunch greens, washed, trimmed, and roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed with 1/2 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lemon, or the same amount of water plus a little preserved lemon brine
1 teaspoon pesto; 1/4 of a preserved lemon, minced; or other condiment

In a pan or pot large enough to hold the raw greens, fry the onions in the oil until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the greens and garlic and cook until wilted. Add the lemon juice. Cover, lower heat, and cook for 10-20 minutes, until greens are soft. Remove the lid, turn up the heat, and stir in the pesto. Serve.

It's nice when there's some broth, and it's also good when all the broth has cooked away.

Beet greens produce a gorgeous fuscia broth.