What to Cook With Cavolo Nero

Lacinato kale, the quintessential Tuscan winter green, makes fast friends with olive oil, beans, and nuts—especially in an easy and versatile pesto

Cavolo nero and almond pesto. Giulia Scarpaleggia

For my Tuscan family, cavolo nero, Tuscan Lacinato kale, is not a trendy vegetable. It is not a magical superfood, nor just a healthy, gluten-free, vegan ingredient to make chips with.

Cavolo nero is the most common, everyday ingredient in winter. You find it at the market, its waxy, dark green leaves hoarded in bunches next to other representatives of the Brassica genus. You spot it in every vegetable garden since the end of summer. It’s then harvested through autumn and winter, though it’s at its best after the first frost, which tenderizes the hard fibers of its leaves and makes it sweeter.

On New Olive Oil

Come November, the olive oil mills in Tuscany get busy. People queue up in the noisy rooms, holding heavy boxes crammed with green and black olives from their family farms, shining in the yellow artificial light. They debate about olive oil yield, they talk about the weather of the upcoming weeks (will they be able to finish picking all the olives?) but mostly, they rave about the flavor, the nice heat of the freshly pressed olive oil, and how they are going to enjoy it as soon as they get home.