Escarole - Endive's less well known (but much tastier!) cousin

Hey everybody, this is Marin.  I'll be honest with you--I don't have Bill's gardening knowledge and expertise, but what I do know about is harvesting, storing, cooking and EATING the delicious food that comes out of our garden.

One of our favorite crops to grow is escarole.  Escarole (a variety of broad leaf endive) can be cooked, or used raw in salads.  It grows extremely well here in Texas.  We planted ours from seed back in September, and it's been producing ever since! 

The key is to harvest the outer leaves only--leave the heart intact, and it will keep growing back!  Last weekend I harvested an entire laundry basket full of escarole leaves and the plants are already overflowing out of the raised bed again!

Since I knew we wouldn't be able to eat ALL that escarole, I froze most of it--just blanch it first in a pot of boiling water for about five minutes.  Then I put it in the food processor and pulsed it a few times--just to chop it up a bit.  After that, I tossed it into some quart size freezer bags and popped it into the freezer.  Voila!  Now I've got a huge stash of delicious escarole on hand for the next time I feel like making my ALL TIME favorite recipe--escarole and beans!  You might be saying to yourself, "Escarole and beans?  What the heck is that?".  Well, my friends, escarole and beans is the ultimate comfort food--and EASY to make--looks yummy huh? (Well, it's not the greatest picture in the world, but trust me, it's good!)

 What you'll need
1/3 cup olive oil
4-5 good sized cloves of garlic
1 head of escarole - torn
2 cans great northern beans, undrained
1/2 cup chicken broth
1-2 tsp. lemon juice
Pinch of crushed red pepper
Parmesan cheese
Salt & epper
Italian bread

What you do
Heat the olive oil over medium heat. 
Add the garlic and saute for about 2 minutes. 
Add the escarole, lemon juice and crushed red pepper. 
Stir to coat the escarole with the olive oil/garlic mixture.
Cover and continue cooking for a few minutes-this allows the escarole to soften and wilt a bit.
Add both cans of beans and the chicken broth
Season with salt, pepper and parmesan
Turn the heat down to Low/Medium and continue cooking for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Smash/smoosh the beans a bit
Continue cooking over medium heat
Heat your oven to 350, and pop in some thick slices of Italian bread-you're almost done!

When your bread is nice and toasty, it's time to get your bowls ready!  (Bill and I differ on this next point--he likes to keep his bread whole, I like to tear mine up into bite sized pieces--you can do whatever works for you)
Ladle a generous portion of the escarole and bean mixture over your bread, and top with more parmesan.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do--bon appetit!