Remember That Summer There Was Broccoli Rabe With Parmesan Every Night For Dinner?

This is all you need to know about ingredients:

The right olive oil costs enough to seem outrageous when you see the receipt, but not so much so that you are still indignant when you take it out of the bag an hour later. The right amount of olive oil is a fell swoop paused in mid-air for just long enough to register you might be overdoing it. The amount your boyfriend uses when he is cooking is always too much, regardless of the actual measurement. The amount your dad uses is never, ever enough.

The right parmesan is not shrink wrapped. It is the gigantic block your mom kept in the fridge your whole life, purchased at the Italian grocer in your town and with pieces hacked off periodically for individual use, the wax paper and baggied bulk of it weighing down the back of the cheese drawer. But if you are only partially grown up, like somewhere between green canned and specialty store parmesan, and live an hour's crowded R train ride away from a place with decent cheese, you can buy it in smaller chunks. Having to stock up frequently makes you acutely aware of how much parmesan you eat. Do not look at the price. Save the rinds for soup stock you will totally absolutely unfailingly make one of these days, maybe the same day you have a picnic in Central Park or go look at windows on Fifth Avenue or do any other seasonally appropriate wits-about-you type activity you claim you will.

The right pasta, as long as you can afford it, is anything except that kind in the blue box, Ronzoni. Mark Bittman is into Barilla but you're pretty faithfully into De Cecco. Be militant about which dishes require which kind of noodle or pasta; this gives you an air of authority about all things culinary, or just makes you a dick, but either way it's good to make an impression.

The right greens are the one from the corner produce store, or else from the farmer's market if you live near one or have a friend who works at one and will Hook You Up. You'd think the livelier the green the better they taste, but apparently the appearance of too many lively buds on, for instance, broccoli rabe signifies that it is old and bitter (aren't we all!). So get whatever batch doesn't evoke questions in your mind of mortality, yours or its, and don't wash it too thoroughly, because protein is good for you and if anything in that batch of kale can kill you, maybe you had it coming?