Greens? mouthwatering. Pictures? Not so much.

(After a long, long hiatus -- nearly 2 weeks! -- I've finally got a recipe for you. I recently started a new job, which, in contrast to the old one, actually necessitates my doing work. It's been tough to adjust to a full -- often overflowing -- workday and still make time to blog, but I'm coming around. Thanks for continuing to read, and I promise, more great recipes are in the wings!)

Honestly, I don't think I've ever posted such ugly pictures (save some of my early shots, which are pretty embarrassing). My apologies if looking at them makes you lose your appetite. I didn't even bother to put the watermark on that second one -- let's face it; no one's going to claim to have taken that ugly pic.

But the spinach, people, the spinach. It's absolutely delicious, and I insist that after staring for way too long at these ugly pictures, you go bother to make the spinach that's in them. I happened to have spinach in the fridge, and stumbled upon this recipe in The New Best Recipe (aka my New Best Cookbook). It's not my usual tune to make creamed spinach. I'm more drawn to raw salads and quick-sautees with Asian flavors than I am to heavy, Southern-style greens. However, I will certainly be making frequent exception to that rule from now on. TNBR's creamed spinach recipe yielded a perfectly delicate green, sweet from the cream and a pinch of sugar, slightly salty, a bit spicy from the freshly-grated nutmeg, and buttery from a sauteed shallot and, well, butter. I guess it's not hard to see how anything can be made tasty if you add sugar, salt, cream, butter, and shallots. But anyway, this spinach was pretty much a home run. I actually cut the cream in half, and it was still delicious, so if you'd be inclined, do the same.

Assertive Greens with Shallots and Cream makes 2 cups

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 shallots, chopped fine
• 1 recipe Blanched Assertive Greens (below)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1.4 tsp. freshly-grated nutmeg
• salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add the shallots and cook, stiring frequently, until golden brown, 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the greens and stir to coat them with the butter. Stir in the cream, sugar, thyme, and nutmeg.
3. Cover and cook until the greens are heated through, about 2 minutes. If any excess liquid remains, remove the lid and continue to simmer until the cream has thickened slightly, about 1 minute.
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.

   Assertive Greens:

   • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
   • 2 pounds assertive greens, such as kale, mustard greens, collard greens, etc.

   Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a Dutch oven or a large, deep saute pan. Add the salt and the greens, and stir until wilted. Cover and cook until just tender, 7 minutes. Drain into a colander. Rinse the pan, then refill with cold water, and put the greens into the cold water to stop the cooking. Gather greens by the hand, and squeeze dry.

Ramps in shallot butter

Nothing announces the end of gloomy winter and the coming of bright, bloomy Spring like ramps. Ramps resemble baby leeks, and taste like a cross between garlic and onion, only less pungent, more delicate green. Unlike leeks, ramps' green stalks are soft and can should be eaten. They're certainly Spring's hot item among chefs and gourmandes, and the most ramp-obsessed folks have been known to shell out as much as 20 bucks a pound for 'em. Now, you won't find me telling you they're worth that much -- after all, they were once mistaken as weeds and people spent time trying to rid their gardens of them -- but they are mighty tasty, and quite versatile. However, as they're expensive, I'd use them wisely.

This May weekend was sadly wet, and we spent quite a bit of time indoors hoping for sun. Every so often the yellow showed its face for a fleeting moment, only to hide again behind the clouds. When taking an afternoon walk was pretty much out of the question, I decided to play with my ramps instead. I've been told they're great with asparagus in olive oil, or by themselves, but I don't have enough restraint to cook them plain. I knew I wanted to use butter, because let's face it -- nothing is worse for some butta in the pan. I did notice a pile of shallots in our potato/onion basket, and there's no combo like shallots and butter -- so I figured, as some ramps to the mix, and you might have some serious yum at your fingertips.

Next time I'd serve the whole thing atop a slice of toasted baguette. While the dish was incredibly tasty, it may have been heavy on the onion/garlic flavor without something else to balance it out. It'd also be delicious over fish or chicken, or in roasted potatoes. As with sauteed onions, there are endless possibilities for how to use the ramp-shallot mixture. Just don't drown its flavor in a tomato sauce or anything, ok?

Ramps in Shallot Butter

1 shallot, 1 bunch of ramps, 2 Tbsp. butter, fleur de sel or sea salt

Slice off the roots from the ramps. Slice shallot thinly; saute in 1 Tbsp butter. Add second Tbsp butter and ramps, unsliced. Toss in pan so that butter coats vegetables. Saute about 1-2 minutes, until stalks are soft. Add fleur de sel or salt to taste.

Endive, Orange, and Avocado Salad

Now that farmers' markets are fully stocked and hot weather is creeping up on us, I'll be kissing my oven goodbye and putting it to sleep for a few months. I don't know about you, but it costs us an arm and a leg to pump the A/C into our apartment enough that I don't faint from oversweating; the last thing I want to do is make it harder for our little cooling engine that couldn't. So long as I can hack it, I'll be making salads regularly. Summer's produce is fresh, juicy, flavorful, and tasty without any heat applied. Why make stew when tomatoes are perfect, yes perfect, with just some olive oil and salt? And when I'm making salads, I'm using avocados in almost every one of them.

A friend of mine calls avocados "god's butter." They're smooth and creamy without being overly rich, and I could eat a whole one for breakfast lunch a snack. Just sprinkle a little fleur de sel on top and they're good to go.

In this here salad, avocados really shine. Bitter, crunchy endive and sweet, tart, juicy oranges contrast the mellow richness of the avocado perfectly. You can take its dressing in all sorts of crazy directions, but the one I made was dead simple: orange muscat vinegar (a new pantry addition -- absolutely fantastic!) and a couple drops of good quality olive oil. And of course, a bit of fleur de sel for those avocados. Feel free to use flaky salt if you don't have fleur de sel.

Estimate 1/2 and avocado, 1 orange, and 1 endive per person; Separate the endive leaves from their base, halve them, stick them in a bowl with separated sections of orange (I used valencia seedless) and thick slices of avocado, and drizzle the dressing overtop. Finish with salt, and do enjoy these coming summer months.

Broccoli with Pine Nuts and Raisins

Ever have a total jonesin' to make something that you had not intention of eating for a couple days? No, of course not. You're not crazy. Maybe it was the urge to blog that got me cooking this weekend, backwards as that sounds...but for whatever reason, I found myself chopping garlic, toasting pine nuts, and steaming broccoli and raisins, knowing full well that I was going out to dinner last night, out to a brunch baby-naming this morning, and ... well, out to dinner again tonight. The broccoli is still sitting in my fridge, save for the little bits I've been sneaking here and there. And now you all know what I'll be taking for lunch tomorrow.

This broccoli couldn't be easier to make; its flavors are clean and pronounced, its colors fresh, and it can be eaten cold or warmed. Word on the street is that pine nuts and raisins are two of those "finicky foods" that picky eaters often don't like. Lucky for me, D dislikes both. You can be sure we won't be fighting over the last floret, 'cause it's all for me, every last bit.

I dreamt up this recipe after quick-sauteing some collard greens with similar ingredients. The greens, which retain a fair amount of bitterness even after cooking, balance the butteriness of the pine nuts and the sweet tartness of the raisins. I wanted to make more, but I only had broccoli in my fridge. Determined to make it work, I added some thinly sliced garlic "chips," which I browned in a couple tablespoons of oil. The chips imparted a bitter spiciness that helped round out the dish, and those 2 Tbsp. of garlic-infused oil were a perfect dressing for the broccoli.

The one other thing I did differently than in traditional recipes was to steam the raisins along with the broccoli, so that they plumped up. I'd definitely do this again.

I imagine this broccoli recipe would be delightful alongside some steamed cod, flounder, or other white fish, and of course some crusty bread to round out the plate. Alternatively, toss it with some pasta (cooked in salted boiling water) and sprinkle some romano cheese overtop for an easy, one-pot meal. I'll be eating it right out of the tupperware, which I imagine will be just fine.

Broccoli with Pine nuts and Raisins serves 2 as a side dish

• 2 crowns of broccoli, florets separated and stems chopped into 3/4-inch slices
• 1/2 cup raisins, preferably brown
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 clove garlic, sliced very thinly
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350, and toast pine nuts in a single layer until they've turned golden, about 7 minutes.
2. Place a steamer in the bottom of a big pot, and add water so that the water level comes just below the steamer. When water is boiling, add broccoli and raisins, cover, and cook until broccoli is softened but still firm and green, about 10 minutes (maybe less).
3. If you're concerned about the vegetable turning brown, immediately transfer broccoli to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Mine was fine without the ice bath, and is still green after quite some time in the fridge.
4. Meanwhile, slice the garlic, heat the oil on medium, and fry the garlic until it has turned golden. Try not to let it burn.
5. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, and drizzle oil and garlic chips overtop. Season with s and p as necessary. Serve warm or cold.