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Escarole & White Bean Soup w/Sausage

ironpeddler

Ye Old Newbie
Joined
Apr 8, 2008
Messages
6,656
It got cold last night and the first thing I thought of this morning was to make some soup. I bought a nice head of escarole the other day and grabbed the rest of the ingredients out of the fridge. 
 
Start off with a head escarole, cut off the bottom, chop into 1 1/2" chunks, chop those up and rinse the fine grit out of them...there is nothing worst than feeling the grit as you eat the soup!
 
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After a very good rinse of the escarole, cut up the rest of the ingredients. A medium onion, a few baby carrots, and some andouille sausage...which is sacrilege in my family!
 
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In a soup pot, put in a good hefty drizzle of olive oil and start sauteing the carrots & onions...then 2 heaping soup spoons minced garlic (I like minced garlic in soups as you get some in every spoonful), and then throw in the sausage. Cook that for about 8-10 minutes.
 
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Then you start to layer the escarole into the pot and drizzle some olive oil over each layer to make sure you get the leaves lightly coated. Gently fold over the escarole with the rest of the vegis until the leaves start to wilt. At this point, sprinkle in some salt & pepper and a few shakes of red pepper flakes. I add in good amount of Italian seasoning, but I put that in the broth ahead of time to reconstitute it.
 
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See how much it wilts down?
 
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Then add in 6 cups of chicken broth and stir gently. At this point I open 2 cans of small white beans (habichuelas blancas) that I I lightly rinse....I like to leave a little bit of the bean syrup in there for flavor...and then I stir in about a 1/4 cup of pecorino romano cheese. Cook for about 1 hour (until the escarole is tender) on low heat. It takes about 20 minutes to put it all together, so this is a quick soup to make.
 
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Done! Grab some nice crusty Italian bread and a beer and enjoy.  :thumbs:
 
I love sautéed 'scarole and beans. I think I could eat it everyday. I'll have to try that.

Doc
 
LOVE when my mom makes "Italian Wedding Soup" its the only one I have had with escarole. I will need to try this thanks Gary for sharing.
 
Paul
 
That looks really good.  The only soups I make regularly are "Post-Thanksgiving turkey carcass stew" and "Post-Eostre hambone four-bean and cornbread" but with cooler weather finally making it here to the Gulf Coast, I'll have to give that a try.  Escarole.  Huh.  Well, I already put spinach in almost everything!  :)
 
I do heartily approve of the andouille!  :thumbs:
 
~Boar
 
That's an awesome soup! Since moving down south from Philly 16 years ago, there's a few things I can not find or rarely find. Escarole being one of those, as well as, broccoli rabe and Boars Head meats!


*edited: sent before finishing thought
 
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