JUST RIGHT: Beans and Greens

I ate this sitting at a table, staring out a glass door, and thinking about that feeling that comes over you when someone is shaking your tree after you'd specifically planted yourself in a different orchard, and so you extend a bough, but he runs away and you're left wondering why you did that. At least the bough didn't break, you think, and then you wonder why you're thinking of yourself as a tree. Why not a dog?

That answer is hard. This meal is easy.

Real easy. The hardest thing, maybe for you, might be facing those slivers of salty fish. But you need it. And save the rest, and the rest of the tomatoes, and make a damn Puttenesca in a day or two.

Otherwise, you just open some cans. You slice and squirt some citrus. You let everything get some funk on it. And then you slide it all into bowls, or a plate, or you could probably combine the beans AND the greens, and have a delicious experience that you'd write cryptic Facebook notes about, or airily compare to your "First Truth", which, as everyone who knows you on a spiritual level knows, is how you refer to your first voyage to Black Rock City.

Look at that. Dinner is done. You're left with plenty of time. Plenty of it. All the time in the world is yours. So don't give it away to people who run away.

JUST RIGHT: Beans and Greens (White Beans with Chili and Garlic/Kale with Anchovy, Garlic, Lemon and Tomato)

1 can small white beans (or large white beans. Just, I mean, don't make them feel bad about it), drained and rinsed

1 can stewed, diced or chopped tomatoes

A WHOLE LOTTA' KALE (I used, for that tiny bowl up there, about 1/2 of a bag of chopped/cleaned Kale)

2 large, fat cloves of garlic, sliced thin

Red chili flakes

1 anchovy filet, preferably packed in olive oil

Salt, Pepper, and Dried Oregano

Lemon

Olive Oil

In a large saucepan, heat a nice drizzle of olive oil over medium heat, with half the sliced garlic. Heat it up nice and slow, let it linger, so that the oil is infused. Add chili flakes, depending on your tolerance, and a nice fat pinch of dried oregano, squeezed between your fingertips. Once that looks nice and sizzly, the garlic softened, add in the drained and rinsed beans. Saute until warm, seasoning as you like with salt and pepper - taste the beans. Adjust. Once to your liking, slide them into a bowl and set aside.

Wipe out the pan. Do not wash it, just wipe it out. Drizzle more olive oil into the pan - OR, if your anchovies come packed in oil, some of that - you'll love it. Add a single anchovy filet, and using a wooden spoon or similar, break it up until it dissolved into an Umami-rich paste. Add the rest of the garlic, chili flakes, and then a few heaping Tablespoons of tomato - this is all to personal taste. Saute until slightly thickened, then add your kale. Do what you do with kale, which is stare in wonderment as it shrinks and darkens and turns into silky leaves of dense nutritional superiority. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and give it a good squirt of lemon juice.

Taste once more. Slide it all into another bowl, and sit down with your beans and greens. Enjoy the late light. Encourage new thoughts. Eat it all up.

Comments

[L.]

You lovely ladies. Thank you!!

[kickpleat]

hip hip hooray!!!

[Beth]

Missed your writing, girl! Love this, hope you're doing well.