Adventures in Cooking Our CSA Share: Escarole and Struggles

Well, we are really behind in our veggie box this week. Probably for two reasons: we weren't here for the weekend and we didn't go grocery shopping to pick up ingredients to complement last week's produce. So I find myself staring at a greens-filled fridge not sure what to do. I'm going to give away some lettuce again, having already given away the hakurei (Mama Teacher, they were turnips!!!), bok choi and lettuce to the grandparents, and we're going to try to push through the rest, hoping it doesn't go bad before we can cook it.

That leaves

• curly kale--gonna just stir fry it
• a dozen eggs--hmm, what's a quintessential egg dish? an omelet?
• lettuce--this is the easy one but easiet to forget too
• kohlrabi--hmmm. stir fry? or eat raw with dip? I can try again next week.
• garlic scapes--I had thought about making hummus (no tahini, though; and the pesto has 1/2 cup of oil!) but will probably add them to the omelet. This will be in the next box, too.
• escarole--I made a soup tonight and will make another soup tomorrow night (see below). Again, we get more escarole this week.

That's a lot of veggies for 1-2 days!

So, some things I've learned about our CSA box:

• I'm not really good at identifying vegetables. Which you don't have to do at the grocery store because there are signs with the prices. I almost put lettuce in my soup today and ate the escarole straight up, which would not have been good.
• I don't really know which veggies will go bad first. I realize that the key to cooking our CSA share is using the most perishable produce first. But I don't know what that is. And I can't find a list online. Though, I'm learning. It's a steep learning curve, and expensive too.
• I don't know how to prep most of these vegetables: can you eat the stem? can you eat the leaves? I don't have to put them in my dishwasher, right? (this harkens back to a story about Southern women so stressed about gritty greens that they put them on the top rack of their dishwasher and run it through rinse. Now, for the life of me, I can't recall what book that's in).
• Every recipe starts with olive oil and garlic.
• Cooking new-to-me produce every night is rather stress producing, even if the recipes are simple.
• But I've liked almost everything.

-=-=-=-=-=

Escarole and Bean Soup

1/4 lb White beans
5 c vegetable or chicken broth
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
1 onion, diced
2 c chopped escarole
Salt and pepper -- to taste
croutons, optional

SOAK THE BEANS OVERNIGHT IN WATER. Drain. Place beans in a pot, add broth, cover and cook over medium heat until beans are soft, about 30 minutes. (or use canned white beans if there isn't time to soak and cook...) Meanwhile, place another pot on the stove, add oil, place over medium heat, add garlic and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes, or until onions soften. Add the escarole and continue to cook until wilted, another 10 minutes. Add the beans and broth to the pot with the escarole. Add salt and pepper as desired, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve hot, with the addition of croutons if desired. serves 8

from our CSA people

-=-=-=-=-=

Garlic Escarole Soup with Rice

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 medium onions, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

8 cups stock

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 medium head escarole, washed and roughly chopped (about 5 cups)

1/2 cup Arborio rice (I just used pre-cooked white rice, as I had it on hand)

grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Heat oil in large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook uncovered for 15-20 minutes, until caramelized. Reduce heat to low, add garlic, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add stock and bring to a boil. Add the salt and rice and cook for 5 minutes.

Add escarole. Simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes, until rice and escarole are tender. Season to taste with salt. Serve with Parmesan cheese. (We didn't have cheese and so served it with a bit of lemon juice).

Johnna Albi and Catherine Walthers, Greens Glorious Greens! (adapted--they had chicken stock and shredded chicken, too)