GREENS ARE GOOD for you – the darker the better. Vitamin-wise, that means kale trumps iceberg, mustard greens beat frisee. Anyone who cares about this sort of thing knows this, and yet ... how many bunches of collards greens have you eaten lately? The problem is, of course, that like a lot of good things – beets and Moby-Dick spring to mind – winter greens look unapproachable. And they are; anyone who's bitten into a raw collard leaf knows what it's like to chew on a grass-flavored rain slicker. But just as beets, once roasted and peeled, are sweet and delicious, and Melville's opus, once you get the hang of reading it, turns out to be a raucous, wild ride through love, hate, obsession, philosophy, and the best way to keep sharks away from a harpooned whale, so are greens worth the little trouble it takes to make them palatable.

First, pick your greens. Mustard greens are, to my taste, just too sharp and pungent. Collard greens, which have flat, wide leaves and thick stems, are much more mellow, without the radishy bite of mustard or the mineral tang of spinach. Best of all, though, is lacinato kale, often called dino kale, which has a rich green-black color and a bumpy, puckery leaf. It's less leathery than regular kale and has a marvelous, wintery flavor, perfect with garlic, olive oil, and thin curls of Parmesan. A lovely Italian couple is lacinato kale and broccoli rabe (called cima di rape in Italy), lightly parboiled, sliced into ribbons, and tossed with the little pasta ears known as orechetti. A bit of mashed anchovy – preferably the dry salt-cured ones sold loose at Lucca and other Italian markets, not those often-nasty little canned things – adds richness, and a shake of red pepper flakes adds heat.

I actually like the greens to predominate in this dish, a reaction to how it's usually served in restaurants, which is as a plate of pasta with a few flecks of broccoli. You could make this heartier by leaving out the anchovy and browning some crumbled Italian sausage along with the garlic. When you get the mix right – greens with the perfect amount of silkiness and bitterness, the bite of hot pepper, the salt of the cheese, a whisper of fishy funk against the smooth, bland pasta – it's a dish that's really hard to stop eating.

It's best made with both broccoli rabe and lacinato kale, but you can substitute any kind of kale or collard greens (mustard greens, however, are too sharp). I've made lazy versions with frozen spinach and finely chopped regular broccoli and no anchovies (although if you get a tube of anchovy paste, I can guarantee that you'll have anchovies on tap for a very long time), and while it missed that extra-bitter dimension, it was still good and good for you.

Greens pasta

1 bunch broccoli rabe
1 bunch dino (lacinato) kale
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2-3 salt-cured anchovies, rinsed with backbones removed (optional)
Orechetti or straw-and-hay pasta
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Salt, to taste
Grated Parmesan

Rinse broccoli rabe and kale and remove tough stems. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add salt to make it as salty as the sea. Drop in broccoli rabe and cook until almost tender. Remove with tongs and let cool in a colander. Bring water back to a boil and add kale. Simmer until tender. Drain and let cool. When cool enough to handle, squeeze excess water out of greens and squeeze a couple of handfuls into a log shape on a cutting board. Slice across into thin strips. Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. When water boils, add salt and then pasta, stirring frequently during the first few minutes to keep pasta from clumping together or sticking to the bottom of the pot. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add garlic and cook until just golden brown. Add anchovies and mash into a paste. Toss in greens and heat through. Add red pepper flakes and salt to taste (remember, you'll be adding Parmesan later, so don't make it too salty). When pasta is done, drain. Toss greens and pasta together in the pasta pot or in a large warmed bowl. Toss in grated cheese to taste, and serve with red pepper flakes and more Parmesan on the side.