A New Cookbook from Beloved Restaurant Via Carota

James Beard Award winning chefs Jody Williams and Rita Sodi join us to discuss their restaurant and cookbook, Via Carota: A Celebration of Seasonal Cooking from the Beloved Greenwich Village Restaurant: An Italian Cookbook. Check out their recipe for Lenticchie con Cavolo Nero, braised lentils and kale.   Lenticchie con Cavolo Nero (Braised Lentils and Kale)The small brown lentils grown in Tuscany and Umbria can cook long enough to absorb the flavors of the pot without breaking down. Serve a bowl of these lentils hot, with a drizzle of olive oil on top. From 'Via Carota: A Celebration of Seasonal Cooking from the Beloved Greenwich Village Restaurant' by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi, with Anna Kovel. Copyright © 2022 by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Ingredients: 1⅓ cups/265 grams small lentils, such as Castelluccio, or French le Puy 1 onion 1 celery stalk 1 medium carrot 4 large leaves lacinato kale extra-virgin olive oil 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 fresh sage leaf 1 cup finely diced pancetta or guanciale (about 4 ounces/ 115 grams) salt pepper Pour the lentils onto a plate and pick through them for any pebbles or small clumps of soil, then place them in a sieve and rinse well. Finely dice the onion, celery, and carrot (about ¼ inch/6 mm). Strip the kale leaves from the stems, finely chop the stems, and cut the leaves into wide pieces. Pour a good amount of olive oil (4 tablespoons/60 ml) into a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the garlic and sage. Heat over medium until the garlic is aromatic, but not browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the pancetta and render the fat, about 3 minutes. Stir in the chopped onions, carrots, celery, and kale stems and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Stir in the kale leaves, coating them with fat. Add the lentils and enough water to cover them by about 1 inch/2.5 cm. Bring to a simmer. Stir the pot and reduce the heat to simmer gently. Cook partly covered until lentils are tender but retain their texture, about 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as needed.