Beans and Greens

I seem to be moving from "things to do with tomatoes and eggplant" to "things to do with kale." The season must be changing. So here's another thing to do with kale, or any other tasty green. For this use, I like ones that stay a little more robust when cooked, like kale or collards, but there's no real reason you couldn't use chard or something similar as well.

This is so simple it doesn't need a formal recipe. I cooked about a pound of white beans in the slow cooker all day with some sage and a few garlic cloves and bay leaves. Just before dinner, I minced the cloves of an entire head of garlic and sauteed them along with 8 cups or so of coarsely chopped kale. While doing that, I boiled up 1/2 lb of pasta. I drained the beans (removing the seasonings) and mixed it all together, adding plenty of salt and pepper and a generous drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil. This made enough to serve 4-5.

Sweet Italian sausage would probably make a nice addition to this, but would change the character of the dish.