Escarole

Skip the wine—this salad is perfect with a Belgian ale. Saint Andréis a soft, ripened cheese much like Brie or Camembert. Either cheese would make a good substitute.

This recipe calls for a lot of greens, but they cook way down.

A lovely combination of contrasting tastes: bitter greens, salty-smoky bacon, tangy goat cheese, and sweet shallots.

Flank steak is flavorful and juicy when completely unadorned, but it gets added personality from bitter greens, grilled onion, and a lively vinaigrette.

Octopus comes with its own braising liquid: just put it in a pot on the stove top, turn on the heat, and a couple of inches of water will soon appear at the bottom of the pot. It is a great little secret that this dish is actually quite simple. Of course, any Neapolitan will tell you that the only octopus worth eating come from the Tyrrhenian Sea, and finding a Tyrrhenian octopus in California is a tall order. But we do have access to fresh octopus from the Pacific, which are a treat. If you cannot find fresh octopus, frozen ones are more widely available. Sometimes you will see frozen cooked octopus for sale, which are not the best option for this soup, though they will do. If you do use precooked octopus, decrease the braising time to 30 minutes and add about 2 cups water to the pot (the cooked octopus won't release sufficient liquid). And if you buy only octopus tentacles, you will also probably need to add water to the pot. Finally, I make this soup with the 4-pound specimens we get at A16, so if you can only find 2-pound octopus, you will need to buy a pair of them. Don't worry if they look large. They will shrink up as they release their water.

Bison meat is very lean and is best served rare or medium-rare.

Polenta makes a supercrisp coating for panfried chicken breasts. Here, it's crowned with wilted escarole and dressed with a bright and briny sauce.

Patience is the key to this soul-satisfying soup chock-full of winter greens. Its depth of flavor comes from cooking the soffritto—a mixture of pancetta, onion, celery, carrots, and the ribs from the chard—for a good 45 minutes and from browning the tomato paste. The result is so savory that there's no need for broth; water, canned tomatoes, and a parmesan rind work beautifully. And because this soup must cook slowly, don't worry about prepping all your vegetables before you begin—you can simply chop as you go.

This refreshing salad serves as a palate cleanser before dessert. Oltranti updates a traditional Italian-style salad dressing with the modern flavors of California cuisine: Floral Meyer lemon amplifies the acidity of red-wine vinegar in a bright shallot vinaigrette.

Apples make this salad appealing even to young children.

A salad of oranges and slightly bitter endive and escarole rounds out the buffet of fried latkes and rich toppings.

Nuggets of sausage give a little meatball action to this hearty, no-fuss soup chock-full of healthy escarole and lentils.

The trick of leaving the base attached to the quartered escarole is one we learned from Lidia Bastianich, and it makes the whole process far less fussy. Studded with plump raisins and crunchy pine nuts, the rice makes for a flavorful filling—perfect for the slightly bitter edge of the greens.

Pan-sear to crisp the skin, then pop the fillets in the oven to finish the job.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are adapted from Molto Italiano by Mario Batali. It's part of a special menu created by Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali for Epicurious's Wine.Dine.Donate program. Scarola alle Acciughe There are basically two ways of cooking greens: the long, slow method, and this one, where much of their water content is still present, leaving the leaves with a definite chew.

Bagged salad mix gets dressed up with a tangy lime dressing, spicy serrano chile, and crunchy pepitas.

Tender, faintly bitter escarole gives a unique, delicious earthiness to this double-crust pizza, which stands apart from its traditional saucy brethren.

Piquillos are sweet Spanish peppers with a rich, full flavor.

Think beyond the salad bowl: Cooking escarole tempers its slight bitterness; pine nuts are a mellow complement.