Escarole

Thank heavens for the CSA emails that come out each week warning us what we're going to get. This week was super lettuce-heavy (see prior post), including five different leafy veggie things. The most exotic was escarole, which looks like... you guessed it, folks... lettuce. But apparently, according to the CSA email we received, it does NOT taste good as a salad base. The only dish I could think of involving escarole was white bean and escarole soup, and when I realized that I had all the ingredients except for a tomato (easy enough to obtain), I made it for dinner tonight. (The picture doesn't do it justice.) Turned out GREAT and wasn't much work at all, largely because no blending was involved (unlike many of my other favorite soup recipes). The only change I made was that because I didn't have any canned tomatoes, I just cut up some fresh ones. Can't imagine the canned would have been the superior.

It goes a little somethin' like this (from Bon Appetit, March 1996):

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 large carrot, cut into small dice
• 5 large garlic cloves, peeled, flattened
• 3 cups (packed) 1-inch pieces escarole (about 1/2 large head)
• 4 cups (or more) canned vegetable broth or low-salt chicken broth
• 3 1/4 cups cooked Great Northern beans or two 15-ounce cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained
• 1 14 1/2- to 16-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained

• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

preparation

Heat oil in heavy large Dutch over medium-low heat. Add onion, carrot and garlic and sauté until onion is golden and tender, about 7 minutes. Discard garlic. Add escarole; stir 3 minutes. Add 4 cups broth, beans and tomatoes and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until escarole is tender and flavors blend, about 20 minutes. Thin with more broth, if desired. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.)

Ladel soup into bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.