Olive Oil Toasts With Greens Pine Nuts And Raisins Recipes

GRANDMA'S GREENS CATALAN-STYLE WITH TOASTED PINE NUTS AND RAISINS

Steps:

• Heat a small, dry skillet over medium heat and add pine nuts. Cook, shaking pan constantly, until nuts are fragrant and lightly browned - about five minutes. Set aside. Wash Swiss chard in several changes of cold water and drain. Trim and discard ends of chard leaves and slice chard into one-inch ribbons.
• Pour a cup of water into a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, add chard leaves and cover. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Lift lid and use tongs to turn and wilt chard. Replace lid and continue to boil for four minutes, turning chard again with tongs after two minutes.
• Drain chard in a colander placed in sink, rinsing with cold tap water to stop it from cooking further. Use a rubber spatula to press out as much moisture as possible and reserve. In a heavy skillet, heat olive oil on medium-low. Add garlic and raisins and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is soft but not brown. Add chard, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring until heated through. Serve immediately.

OLIVE-OIL TOASTS WITH GREENS, PINE NUTS, AND RAISINS

Steps:

• For the toasts:
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush 1 tablespoon oil evenly on a large rimmed baking sheet. Arrange bread slices on top; brush them with remaining tablespoon oil and season with salt. Place baking sheet in oven and toast for 6 minutes. Rotate the pan front to back and bake the toasts until golden brown all over with no pale patches, a few minutes more. (The toasts will probably not all be done at the same time, so remove the ones that are, and keep toasting). Remove toasts from the baking sheet to a separate container and let cool to room temperature.
• For the topping:
• To wash the chard leaves, throw them into a big bowl of water and swish around with conviction to get rid of any dirt. Lift out the greens (don't pour them out or the dirt will just go right back on), and transfer to a colander to drain. Don't spin the greens dry-it's good to have some water clinging to the leaves to help them steamily cook.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat and add 2 tablespoons oil. Add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender and just slightly colored, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and red-pepper flakes and stir until the garlic is fragrant, but not browned, about 2 minutes.
• Add the chard leaves with 1/2 teaspoon salt and let them begin to wilt. Toss and flip with tongs, adding salt, oil, or water as needed so the garlic does not burn, until chard is tender but not mushy, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Stir in the pine nuts and raisins and then spoon the mixture onto a cutting board to cool for a couple of minutes. Chop the chard, then scoop into a medium bowl and mix in the cheese and the remaining tablespoon of oil. Top toasts with chard mixture and serve warm or at room temperature.

CAPONATA WITH PINE NUTS AND RAISINS

Steps:

• Coat 2 cookie sheets with 2 tablespoons olive oil each, spread with eggplant and roast about 10-12 minutes. Remove.
• Saute garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil over moderate heat until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the onions and celery and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
• Stir together vinegar and sugar. Add to the onion-tomato mixture along with the eggplant and raisins. Cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. (May be made to this point up to 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.).
• When ready to serve, let come to room temperature and stir in remaining ingredients. Serve with pita bread crisps.

GREEN KALE WITH RAISINS & TOASTED PINE NUTS

Steps:

• To toast the pine nuts place them on a cookie sheet in a 325°F oven for about 5 minutes, be careful they burn easily.
• Bring water to boil in a skillet with a tight fitting lid, add kale and cook for approximately 5 minutes of until the kale is just tender, drain& set aside.
• Rinse out the skillet, dry, add olive oil and heat over medium heat, add garlic and saute for 30 seconds, add raisins and stir for about 30 seconds.
• The raisins should be glossy and slightly puffed.
• Add kale, stir, season and saute until heated through.
• Garnish with the pine nuts and serve.

SPINACH WITH OLIVES, RAISINS AND PINE NUTS

Steps:

• Place colander over large bowl. Line colander with kitchen towel. Toss 1/3 of spinach in heavy Dutch oven over high heat until wilted but still bright green, about 3 minutes. Transfer spinach to prepared colander. Repeat with remaining spinach in 2 batches. Let spinach cool briefly. Gather towel around spinach and squeeze well, pressing out as much liquid as possible. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
• Heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add chopped garlic, olives and raisins and sauté until garlic begins to color, about 3 minutes. Add spinach and toasted pine nuts and toss until heated through. Add vinegar and toss. Season spinach generously with salt and pepper and serve.