Escarole Soup

We love the chicory family of vegetables here at Sweet Morning Farm.  Endive frisee and radicchio in salad and cooked escarole are some of our favorites.  Mostly with greens, I just saute them with olive oil and garlic with a cover on the pot, sort of steaming them in their own juice.  Yum.  Lately we've had a lot of escarole ready in the garden, more that the farm shares can easily use, so yesterday I made this delicious soup:

Note - I don't measure everything when I cook, I just go by feel, experience, what I have on hand, and my mood.  I encourage to trust your own taste and instincts when you cook.  Pay attention and decide what you like and what your body is telling you would be good to eat.  I wanted lots of garlic, so I used about 10 bulbs in this soup, in a base of about 8 - 10 cups of chicken broth.

Escarole Soup
Soak and then cook some chick peas.
Add to chicken broth.  (I used some homemade, first cooking and de-boning a chicken for sandwiches.)
Add:
lots of whole garlic cloves
lots of chopped escarole
some chopped onion
the cooked chick peas
a few hot peppers (I used 7 of our "Venice" peppers)
a bit of ginger
some black peppercorns

Cook gently until the escarole is nice and soft.  (Ours simmered all day long while we cleared out the garden.)

Another note: We like spicy food and the Venice peppers are pretty hot.  The broth ended up having a nice heat to it that tasted good and felt sort of healthful, along with the garlic.  Adjust everything to suit your own preference.

Two recipes for Vegetable Tian

(1)

Recipe: Provençal Vegetable Tian

from Martha Stewart, with variations from farm friend Michael

(click on the recipe name for the original post from M.S.)

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and pale-green parts only, rinsed well (1 large leek)

1 Yukon Gold potato (8 ounces), sliced 1/4 inch thick

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 small eggplant (12 ounces), trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 large zucchini (8 ounces), sliced 1/4 inch thick

3 large beefsteak tomatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, divided, plus more for garnish

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil in a shallow 2-quart baking dish. Layer half the leeks in dish, and then cover with half the potato; season with some salt and a pinch of pepper. Top with a layer each of half the eggplant, half the zucchini and half the tomatoes; season with some salt and a pinch of pepper. Scatter with half the olives and half the thyme. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil. Repeat layering and seasoning with remaining vegetables. Drizzle with remaining oil, and cover loosely with foil.

2. Bake 20 minutes, and then remove foil. Press vegetables down with a spatula, and bake until potato is tender and edges are well caramelized, about 45 minutes more. Let cool 10 minutes before slicing.

Note:  I usually replace the leeks with two medium to large onions, sliced 1/4 in thick, and the olives with a couple of large bell peppers, cut lengthwise into thin strips. M

Serving Size

Serves 6 to 8

(2)

Torpedo Onion and Sweet Pepper Tian

11/2 lb. small torpedo onions

2 red bell peppers

1 yellow bell pepper

2 medium ripe tomatoes

olive oil as needed

5-6 thyme sprigs

6 cloves garlic peeled and halved

salt and freshly ground pepper

aged sherry, red wine, or balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon or more as needed.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Quarter the onions. Halve the peppers crosswise and lengthwise; remove seeds and veins and cut into pieces about a half-inch wide. Cut tomatoes in sixths.

Oil an 8x10 gratin dish.  Scatter thyme, add vegetables in an attractive easy way.  It may look a bit like a lot, but they will cook down.  Drizzle well with olive oil. (Do not forget salt and pepper.)

Cover and bake for 90 minutes.  The vegetables should be soft.  Carefully pour out collected liquid into a small pan.  Add a teaspoon of vinegar.  Bring to a boil and reduce until syrupy.  Pour over vegetables.  Serve warm or at room temperature over polenta, pasta, or grilled bread.

“IMMUNE BOOSTER” MISO SOUP

“IMMUNE BOOSTER” MISO SOUP - from farm member Merry A delicious soup using some fall crops: leeks, daikons, onions, carrots, and kale! Saute a coarsely chopped med-large onion in a soup pot. Soak about 1/4-1/2 C wakame seaweed in water. Chop 2-3 carrots and slice a daikon radish. When the onion is softened, add 8 C water. Bring to a boil and add carrots and daikon. Coarsely chop 8 C kale, 2-3 C shiitakes.  Clean and slice 2-3 C leeks.   Mix in 3-4 T miso in ½ C hot broth When the carrots and daikons are soft, add the kale, drained seaweed, leeks, and mushrooms. Boil gently for 5 minutes.   Turn off heat and add the miso.   Let rest for 15 minutes before eating. "And then I enjoy this concoction for breakfast over the next week!" - Merry

California Salad Bowl

A friend shared this recipe with me.  He described as, "The best salad in the world."  He and his family have been making it for over 20 years and still think it is "the best!"

It comes from a recipe collection from their college days, but I don't know the name of the collection.

California Salad Bowl

1 1/2 quarts torn escarole or chicory
1 quart torn iceberg lettuce
1/2 C. sliced scallions
1 pound bacon
1 1/2 avocados
1 T. lemon juice
1 1/2 C. chopped cooked chicken
1/2 C. crumbled blue cheese
3/4 - 1 C. curry dressing to taste

Combine greens and chill until ready to serve.
Cook and drain bacon, then crumble.
Peel avocados and cut in half, sprinkle with lemon juice.
When ready to serve, place greens in a bowl, dice avocado, and arrange rows of avocado, bacon, chicken and blue cheese over the greens.  Pour on curry dressing and toss well.

Curry Dressing

Combine in a jar:
1/4 C. vinegar
1 T. water
2/3 C. oil
1/2 t. curry powder

Shake well.