Questions for ... Housemate Erica

(With apologies to Deborah Solomon. I also make up the questions after the interview.)



What inspired you to make crispy greens?
I wanted to get rid of greens in our fridge. It's my constant dream. That and that everything be organized and labeled with dates.

What kind of greens can you use?
I've done bok choy. What did I do the other day?

I think those were collard greens.
I thought they might have been kale.

So what did you do with them?
I thought if I just put them on the stovetop. You put a little oil in a pan.

What kind of pan?
Use Anna's pan.

For our readers who don't live with Anna, do you think you could describe that a little more?
It's sort of like a thick nonstick half sheet pan. With handles.

Could you substitute something else if you don't have Anna's pan?
I wouldn't advocate it.

So, what do you do?
Put the greens on the pan. Put on some salt. You can spray them with Braggs or soy sauce. Put the pan over two burners and cook them on high, fiddling with them with chopsticks.

Yeah, what's this we hear about chopsticks?
I don't like to burn my fingers. Flip them over at some point. You'll have to do batches because they use a lot of pan space.

Wouldn't it be easier to do them on a cookie sheet in the oven at, like, 400 degrees instead?
But it wouldn't be that fun.

(We're pretty sure Erica's at the culinary vanguard here: we hear that Oleana may be getting kale chips on their fall menu and Mark Bittman is making nori chips.)