Make sure the sauerkraut you buy is raw and unpasteurized. The regular stuff you find at the grocery stores in the States at least often hasn’t been fermented, just cooked down, and if it’s pasteurized all the lovely friendly gut bacteria die in the process.
My contribution to the renewed enthusiasm movement is a single vegetable: broccoli di rape, aka broccoli rabe, aka rapini. I haven’t had any in decades and I’ve never cooked them at home before, but the ones at the market last weekend looked so beautiful that I gave them a try. I blanched them in boiling water for 4-5 minutes, drained them, then sauteed with garlic and a spoonful of chicken stock for 10 minutes or so. They were so scrumptious that I went right back to the market and bought another 3 bunches and blanched them all. Now whenever I feel the urge, they’re ready to toss in the pan.
They’re not actually related to broccoli, as it happens. They’re the greens of a turnip-like plant that just happen to look a lot like a leggy, leafy, tiny-flowered version of broccoli. They taste like a cross between turnips, mustard and spinach. So savory and delicious all you need is a little garlic, salt and pepper to make them sing. To top it all off, because they’re greens with edible stems, most of their carbs are fiber. They’re also so low in calories you could eat a mountain of them without making a dent in your count.
Tonight’s dinner was a pile of rapini with a dusting of grated parmesan on top, another pile of steamed spinach with 1/2 oz of feta crumbled on top and cauliflower mashed with a spoonful of Greek yogurt and chives. Just three veggies on plate, but so sumptuous.