Gai Lan and Cous Cous (Meatless Saturday)

I picked up $1 worth of gai lan - Chinese broccoli - at the downtown farmers market on Friday, and couldn't decide what to do with it. Gai lan looks like a cross between broccolini and asparagus, with long straight stems giving way to tender leaves and flower buds. I'd had it in Chinese restaurants, usually with stir-fried beef and oyster sauce, but I wanted something lighter that I could pair with our usual cous cous (with carrots, raisins, cashews and green onions).

The trick with gai lan is to get the stems tender without overcooking the leaves and tips. The solution is relatively straightforward: cut 'em in half, and start cooking the bottoms first. I put a pot of water on to boil while I started the cous cous, then added a good bit of salt when it came to a boil. I set a timer for three minutes, tossed in the stems, then, a minute later, added the tops. When the timer beeped, I drained the pot and popped the steaming, bright green, gai lan into a bowl of ice water. The stems were still a little too chewy to serve.

I let the gai lan chill out while I finished the cous cous, then drained it and gave it a quick shake to dry. Meanwhile, I chopped a few cloves of garlic and added them to some olive oil in a hot skillet, along with a little salt. As soon as the garlic smelled good (before it got brown), I threw in the gai lan, tossed it for a minute to coat with the garlic, then turned off the heat. A healthy squeeze of lemon and a dusting of white pepper, then onto the plates - crisp tender, bright, and very fresh tasting.