It's hearty and fast and softens the broccoli rabe's sharp edges with a swirl of butter and collapsing tomatoes.
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There's a complex, bitter edge to brassicas that I think makes them especially lovable. Unlike a gently fluffy baked potato or a carrot roasted to easy, unmitigated sweetness, vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and collard greens have gravitas and depth, adding their forthright personality wherever they're used.
This recipe for pasta with garlicky anchovies and broccoli rabe is a perfect example. The characteristic sharpness of the rabe is softened by a swirl of butter and some sweet, collapsing tomatoes. A few anchovies melt quietly into the sauce, doing the background work of making everything taste more like itself, while a spoonful of ricotta stirred in at the end turns the whole thing luxuriously creamy (though feel free to leave it out for a leaner meal). Comforting and quick yet layered with flavor, it's the kind of dish that makes you appreciate vegetables with a dark side.
Featured Recipe
Pasta With Garlicky Anchovies and Broccoli Rabe
More (cruciferous) food for thought:
- Sheet-pan kielbasa with cabbage and beans: As it cooks, peppery kielbasa renders some of its fragrant fat, adding a brawny richness to the cabbage that shares the pan. Serve with white beans tossed in a bracing dill vinaigrette for an Ali Slagle meal that's speedy but extremely satisfying.
- Vegetable tofu curry: You can use all broccoli or a combination of vegetables (cruciferous and otherwise) to make Genevieve Ko's weeknight-friendly curry. The mix of gently spiced coconut milk, soft pillows of tofu and snappy vegetables is perennially appealing.
- Sweet and sour cauliflower: Hetty Lui McKinnon substitutes everyone's favorite brassica for the usual chicken or pork in her riff on a Chinese American restaurant classic. Adding a little cornstarch to the cauliflower florets before baking or air-frying makes them wonderfully crisp beneath their sticky, tangy sauce.
- Garlic-braised greens and potatoes: Instead of throwing out the stems of kale, collard greens and other cruciferous greens, Kay Chun gently simmers them along with the leaves in this robustly flavored vegetable stew. Halved new potatoes help thicken the sauce, lending heft without heaviness.
- Miso-maple sheet-pan chicken with brussels sprouts: Brussels sprouts are arguably the cutest of crucifers, like cabbages scaled down for dolls. Here Carolina Gelen roasts them next to cubes of crowd-pleasing chicken breast, all swabbed with a salty-sweet miso-maple glaze.
That's all for now, except to remind you that if you're impeded by any technical issues, you can email the smart people at cookingcare@nytimes.com for a hand. And I'm at hellomelissa@nytimes.com if you want to say hi.
I'll see you on Wednesday.