I’m pretty sure I’ve never been a picky eater; I was never one of those kids who wouldn’t eat their greens or pooh-poohed various things on a whim as far as I’ve heard. Which is why I imagine that even back then I would have embraced this (these?): Barba di Frati.
F and I decided to spend the afternoon in St.Gallen in Switzerland a few weekends ago and these Italian greens caught my eye while we spent some time strolling through the market there (read: stuffing face with sausage, brownie and croissant). Hey, don’t judge, Switzerland is many things but rebellious and cutting edge is not among them so I had to make do with what was on offer, namely food from three different cultures, which was nothing to sniff at.
As my friend Banana, who kindly used her immensely powerful Google skills when my poor and puny ones failed to rediscover the name (I had noted it in my head but it was pushed out by thoughts of snacks) mentioned, they look a bit like pine needles. They don’t have a very distinct smell or flavour unlike, say, bärlauch which is very garlicky but are instead like spinach which pairs beautifully with stronger flavoured dishes. It’s not something I imagine Banana’ll be feeding her little son Mini-B anytime soon as he is one of the aforementioned picky eaters but for anyone who loves greens with a bit of bite, I recommend them if you ever see any.
Were you a picky eater?
Barba di Frate sauté
This is more of a suggestion than a recipe I guess, as I’m sure you know it’s a perfect treatment for all sorts of greens including spinach
A bunch of Barba di Frate aka Agretti, aka Salsola soda
Blob of butter
Dash of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Salt and Pepper
Juice of 1/4 lemon
Wash the greens well, drain in a colander and lop off the pinky white ends.
Heat a frypan on medium heat and add the oil and butter (the oil stops the butter from burning).
Sauté the garlic briefly to flavour the oil and add the greens, season.
Cover with a lid to steam for 3 minutes (the water left on the greens should be enough without adding more but use your noggin obviously if it looks a bit dry in there).
Check for doneness – they should be al dente but not too.
Squeeze lemon over and serve hot.
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Che buoni!!!!!! :)
Greece has many nice and interesting “greens” as well! all we do is boil them, add some olive oil and fresh lemon and that’s it! Add some feta cheese and then you have a full meal!
When I was a kid I could eat anything… Having a Japanese mother means she is strict about your food (mine was).. BUT, If I had a choice that would ALWAYS be burgers and french fries… or fried calamari… nothing else.. I could live with just those two meals forever and ever…
Really? What are the Greek ones called?
Wow, what a cool looking vegetable – I’ve never seen or even heard of those.
As a kid I was pretty picky. My grandparents and mother, although British, were all raised in India and came to New Zealand just after the war. My grandmother, knowing that (unlike in India) she wouldn’t have servants when she got here, asked her cook to show her how to make a few dishes which were obviously Indian. So Sundays, while most other Kiwi kids were having the Sunday roast, we were having the Sunday curry. So I grew up loving Indian food, but other than I liked only roasted chicken, lamb chops, potato and peas, and of course dessert. Then a student exchange with a French family in Tahiti when I was 16 changed everything – need I say more!!
Sue
Sunday curry! I like it.
cool, so you finally found the name. was a nasty one, uh? btw, I surely haven’t been a picky eater – I still am!!!
Really, I hadn’t noticed ;P Luckily you seem to eat most stuff I’ve cooked for you.
This looks truly delicious – thanks for making me discover new greens as I love all kinds. Actually, when I was a kid, I was much pickier; I hated peppers, salmon and bananas, all things I’ve grown to love.
Funnily enough, I don’t think I was picky eater-my mum said that she never had a problem feeding any of us (born with the instinct to eat hehe). I’ve always loved greens myself!
Oh and I have a friend who has awesome googling powers! :o
Everyone needs a friend with Google power.
What an interesting green !
Something about “blob of butter” just killed it for me…sorry
But i like the noodle-like texture…and off-center photographic finesse.
Blob-a-blob-a-blob. Blob blob.
In a Just-world, i would be an unbelievably wealthy Molasses Baron, who would have the means to fly a moo-moo cow with tourette’s syndrome just close enough to drive you mad!
And you can bet your balls it would have a cowbell!
MUmumumumumumMU
Wait. I haven’t done LSD…let me rewrite that
I meant “ship” a cow first-class over to your country. I wasn’t sure if you’d take a Molasses Barons flying on a cow seriously…
I love cows with bells, send away.
Googlemeister Banana with Picky Son MiniB here :)
I can’t for the life of me understand picky eaters because I’ve always pretty much eaten anything put in front of me, although I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat some of the “way out there” stuff like SE Asian deep fried roaches, say, or those duck embryos in eggs. I have my limits.
The Barba di Frate, incidentally, apparently is not to be confused with okahijiki (something I knew the name of, but didn’t know what it looked like).
I’m somewhat guilt of being a picky eater as a kid… onions, mayonnaise, mushrooms, various greens, etc. were all on the ‘wouldn’t eat unless my life depended on it’ list’. Luckily I’ve grown out that phase… I couldn’t imagine living without all of those things now. My roommate is a picky eater, which is, among many reasons, why I can’t stand him…lol
Anyways, the greens look great. So awesome to be exposed to something I’ve never seen before. So jealous of your weekend trip to Switzerland, by the way
Don’t be “non-rebellious and cutting edge” is a polite way of saying “all we have is chocolate and cuckoo clocks” ;P
I’ve never seen these greens before! I’m going to have to go hunt for them in my local markets – I love trying new greens! Yum!
The dish looks great! And yes I was a picky eater I think that is why I started cooking at a very young age. I’m not so bad now although P does call me a food snob!
I think I’ve read about this veggie in Elizabeth David’s books, most probably the Italian one. I can’t recall what she calls it, but I think there are a couple of recipes for it in there…
I ate these in Italy and just loved them – they tasted a little like swiss chard. I’ve been trying to grow them in my garden but no luck yet.
Our CSA calls those greens agretti. Thanks for the recipe, we can always use a new one to try.
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