Quick summer dinner

On these hot summer nights, it's so easy to default to a dinner of cheese and crackers, or chips and salsa. After all, who wants to cook?

But with some fresh greens in the fridge, a light but nutrition-packed supper is only minutes away.

The other night I came home late from work and put some leftover Beans with Fresh Sage to warm on the stove.

Then I pulled some malabar spinach from the fridge. This is a crinkly spinach with thick leaves about 4 inches long. We got it from Finley Farms at the Hollywood Farmers Market. Earlier in the year Tutti Frutti and the South Central Farmers Cooperative have grown it. If you see some, grab it. It's great as a spinach salad with mushrooms and balsamic vinaigrette. And it doesn't get slimy in the fridge the way those bags of baby spinach leaves do.

We had washed some Friday night, dried it in the salad spinner, wrapped it in paper towels and put it in a plastic bag in the fridge. The following Thursday it was still good. I piled leaves on top of each other, sliced them into one-inch ribbons, and cooked them with some onion and a couple of tomatoes from our garden.

We put the cooked greens in the bottom of our bowls, spooned some of the warm beans on top, and took our simple yet delicious dinner out into the cooling night.

Quick Greens
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion
2 tomatoes
salt and pepper
4-5 cups malabar spinach or other greens

Warm the olive oil over medium-low heat. Cut the onion in 1/4 inch dice and add to the pan. Cook gently until soft. Cut the tomatoes in eighths and add to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, stir well, and cook gently for about five minutes until the tomatoes start to disintegrate. Cut the spinach into 1/2 inch ribbons and stir into the tomatoes. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring every few minutes. When the spinach is soft (about 5 minutes), taste and season as needed.

Serves 2.