Escarole and Beans
4 days ago
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I usually make Escarole and Beans without fresh tomatoes, so this recipe is something I tried and ended up loving. I like Swiss chard with fresh tomatoes, so I thought they would work well with escarole, too. They actually added a lot of flavor to the dish.
A key step is to wash the escarole before using it to get all the dirt out. Fill a bowl up with cold water, separate the leaves and rinse them in the water. Change the water, rinse again and repeat this two or three times to get all the grit out.
Preparing the Ingredients
Once the escarole is washed, stack the leaves and chop them using a 6″ Vegetable Knife.
The escarole is boiled in water for about 30 minutes to prepare it for the dish. Once it’s cooked, set it aside. While it’s cooking, you can prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Chop the shallots with a 5″ Petite Santoku. The blade length of this knife is a good size for shallots.
This dish wouldn’t be complete without garlic, and lots of it. I used six cloves for this recipe, but honestly, if you prefer more or less, you can adjust that amount to your liking. Rough chop the garlic using a 7-5/8″ Petite Chef knife.
I mentioned the addition of the fresh tomatoes to this version of Escarole and Beans. This recipe calls for three pounds of small tomatoes, like cherry tomatoes. Slice them in half with Cutco’s amazing Santoku-Style Cheese Knife.
Cooking the Escarole and Beans
Now that the ingredients are prepped the rest of the recipe comes together quickly.
Over medium heat, sauté the shallots and garlic in a little olive oil for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, some salt and pepper, and cook until the tomatoes start to break down, which takes about 15 minutes. Add the cooked escarole and after two minutes of cooking, add in the cannellini beans and more olive oil. Stir it all up, plate it and top with some grated Romano cheese.
With the tomatoes added to this Escarole and Beas recipe, it almost like a soup. It is comfort food, but it’s still light. If you wanted to make it heartier you could add some pasta, like bucatini, or maybe a smaller pasta to make something almost like pasta fagioli. There are a lot of options.
Ingredients
- 3 bunches escarole, chopped
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 3 pounds small tomatoes, halved and quartered (or use cherry tomatoes, halved)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cans (15.5-ounce) cannellini beans
- Grated Romano cheese, for topping.
Directions
- Add water to a large stockpot, place over medium-high heat and once it reaches a boil, add your escarole. Reduce to a simmer and cook for approximately 30 minutes. Strain the escarole.
- Preheat a medium pot over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup olive oil, shallots and garlic. Let this cook for 5 minutes.
- In the pot with the shallots and garlic, add your tomatoes, salt and pepper and cook for 15 minutes, until tomatoes are cooked down.
- Add the escarole to the tomato mixture.
- After 2 minutes of cooking, add the beans and remaining olive oil.
- Stir, plate, top with grated Romano cheese and enjoy.
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