An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

by Tamar Adler

Stem cooking greens by pulling leaves away from their stems in the opposite direction, and drop them into the water in your sink, where the beet greens await them. Beet leaves’ stems are tender enough to leave connected to their leaves. If other stems are slim and seem to want to stay where they are, let them. Swish the leaves around in the cold water, then move them to a cutting board in batches and cut them roughly, once or twice. Cut the stems of beet leaves into smaller pieces when you get down toward their bottoms. It’s easier to do any finer cutting than this after they are cooked and cooled and won’t shake water everywhere. Don’t worry about drying them. The water that clings to the cooking greens’ leaves is your best friend in sautéing them. They will cook better if they’re damp when you begin. Cook your greens in batches. Put the two biggest deep pans or widest pots you have on the stove. Heat a tablespoon of oil in each. Add greens directly to the pans, letting the leaves pile up a little. Salt each batch lightly when you start cooking it, knowing that the greens will cook down significantly. Add a smashed or chopped garlic clove just after the greens and let it sizzle in the warm oil for a few seconds before mixing it through. Stir the greens with a big spoon, and lower the heat if they seem to be getting burned without getting cooked. If the pan seems dry, add a spoonful of water. A nice occasional addition is an infinitesimally small scrape of cinnamon, nutmeg...