Leafy Greens

Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish of boiled potatoes mashed with green onions, leeks or sometimes chives, kale or cabbage, and milk or cream. I like mine extremely green, with lots of black pepper.

Billy Cotter devised this delicious meaty sandwich for his vegetarian wife, Kelli, at their restaurant Toast, in downtown Durham.

Dark green curly spinach varieties like Savoy or Bloomsdale have a deeper, richer flavor than the lighter green, grassier flat-leaf spinach, but any spinach pairs wonderfully with cardamom.

The ideal size for the collards here is nine inches long. If substituting larger leaves, blanch them a bit longer and continue to sauté them until tender, adding a little water or stock if necessary.

I love making sauerkraut and wait to do it on a day when I am alone in the kitchen and it’s hopefully raining.

Frying fish in peanut oil (like using lard for fried chicken) gives catfish the crispiest, least greasy coating imaginable.

If you can’t grill the radicchio, just sear it on the stovetop in a cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until it is caramelized and tender.