Recipe: Spinach Aglio Olio Open-Face Sandwich or Greens on Toast
Serves: 2
Coffee: Colombia on Chemex (To find out more about the coffee, click here.)
We know that we have to eat our greens, but after awhile, we need something other than health — our own as well as the planet’s — to entice us. In the early 90s, before Bar Pitti on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan’s West Village became so popular, it was a small, often sleepy trattoria where you could sit outside on the super wide sidewalk and have a long and sort of quiet lunch. This dish is a cousin of their famous Campagnolo sandwich (spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, olive oil and Parmigiano). We make it when we are feeling virtuous (no meat) but still ravenously hungry (big slabs of toasted bread and lots of cheese). It goes with any of our coffees at any time of the day: brawny breakfast, mid-day sustenance, late night pleasure. Just make sure to get yourself together before you start cooking. Because start to finish, you’ve only got about five minutes.
Method
Toast two thick slabs of rustic round country-style bread, preferably under the broiler so it can get crusty enough to resist sogging out from the greens. Arrange one piece on each serving plate.
Melt together about 1 Tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon unsalted butter until foamy and brown with several cloves crushed garlic. Add one big box Earthbound Farms Power Greens (11 ounces) or Earthbound Farms Baby Spinach (16 ounces) and a pinch red pepper flakes, using tongs to toss the greens until coated. Cover and cook until wilted, about 3 or 4 minutes, rotating greens frequently. (In the beginning, it will look like a crazy-big mountain of greens, but will quickly become manageable.)
Evenly divide wilted greens over toasted bread, sprinkle with lots of shaved Parmigiano and serve. The cheese is plenty salty, so add additional seasoning carefully.