ESCAROLE!!!

italian soup.
uh-huh.
i told you.
i'm taking it there.
is escarole in your pantry?
no?
is it at least in your lexicon?
no?
neighbors,
don't sleep on that leafy luxury.
it's like what you'd get if cabbage and lettuce had a lovely-looking lovechild,
and it is practically begging to hang out with it's best friend: the white bean.
mmmmmhmmmmm.
so,
currently it lives in soup?
it does.
dudes,
soup is good for you.
duh.
check it out:

C'MON.
i don't want ugly soup, so i made it nice;
i don't want ugly bread, so i grilled it pretty-like;
i don't want ugly food, so i sexxx it up at every meal.
talk about getting what you want in one bowl, huh?
it's SO simple,
and it's a super supper solution.
here's how it happens:
-
half an onion, minced.
saute that in olive oil until it's just translucent,
and then toss in two large cloves' worth of macerated garlic.
let the oil soak in that essence,
and then add your liquid.
in this case 3 cups of vegetable broth.
yeah.
a punch of salt, a crackle of black pepper, a generous dust-up of GPOP,
and a hard shot of crushed red pepper flakes are in order at that point.
add what you think is appropriate to your preferred level of spice tolerance.
(but please don't be a weak-sauce diaperbaby about it, man)
also,
1 cup of diced stewed tomato chunks is a good idea at that point,
as well as 3 cups of white beans-
that's like a can and a half of prepared ones,
or maybe like 20 ounces worth of soak-it-yourselfers;
...i used great northerns, because that's what i had,
but any sexy white jauns will suffice.
and you're gonna need a LOT of escarole.
once the big chunks are at a simmer,
you're doing the right thing if you toss in about half a tsp dried thyme,
and maybe, just maybe, a little bit or oregano. like, a fairy tinkle of it.
then you dump some coarsely, but intentionally 1" strip chunks of escarole.
i use 2/3rds of a head.
(i like escarole)
you can do just half a head if you are timid and/or delicate.
twenty minutes, covered, on a medium-low flame,
and you've got the TRUTH for your face.
all the texture, all the flavor, all that molto italiano goodness,
right there in one bowl of vegetable superiority.
grilled sourdough for dipping?
you'd best believe i'm not going into a soup situation with bread.
i'm not some amateur, buddy.
no way.
i had two slices of olive-oil and hot gridiron goodness.
MORE is always better.
i had two bowls, too.
i'm out here trying to improve myself, man.
one bowl isn't gonna provide enough power for personal groeth.
ha!
-
there you go.
italian upgrades, version one:
soup.
hot, wet, salty, chunky, spicy.....
those are all good things.
*
food is where i've been focused for a while.
that's good, because good food is it's own reward.
but,
not if it's at the expense of longer-lasting rewards
i've gotta find more time to look into other stuff.
i'm serious.
i've got paintings to finish.
i've got a huge home on which to enact impressive improvements.
i've got plans for the future that've been postponed for far too long.
if it's really all really happening,
then these things need to catch the eff up.
time's been a-wastin' while the watched pot was simmering,
but not boiling over;
never quiet, never soft.....