May 13, 2009 4:10 pm US/Eastern
Tony Tantillo: Escarole
Today's tip of the week is with ESCAROLE.
I love escarole in so many dishes; especially escarole with beans and a little bit of tomato. It's fantastic, but you need to select and store escarole right, otherwise it isn't going to taste any good. As a matter of fact, you're going to lose flavor and you're going to lose nutrition. Let's talk about selection of this escarole.
When you buy the escarole, take a look at this right here; see this? It has to be nice and green all the way through, even in the middle. If you see any yellowing inside here in the middle, that's a tell tale sign that it's already a little bit too old.
Then you want to make sure it stands straight up just like this. If it starts to curve a little bit or the leaves start to fall apart, that isn't good, that means it's been stored around and if it's been stored around for too long, it's going to lose all of its flavor.
When you bring escarole home, store it in the refrigerator. It's OK to store it in a plastic bag, but open up the plastic bag a little bit so it can breathe; the shelf life is very short.
Escarole, great for us; it tastes delicious with some cannellini beans, a little bit of tomato, salt and pepper, toasted garlic, olive oil, ah…lunch time.
Escarole Soup with Spicy Meatballs
This is a traditional Italian soup lightened with chicken instead of beef or pork meatballs. The key, however, is the quality of the stock.
Serves 6
Kosher salt
1 head escarole, about 1 pound
1/2 cup bread crumbs from day-old Italian bread
4 ounces ground chicken breast meat
1 egg white
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 quarts de-fatted chicken stock, preferably homemade, cooked on medium-high until reduced to 2 quarts
1/3 cup acini di pepe or other tiny pasta for soups
1. Bring 3 quarts of water and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil. Have a large bowl of ice water ready.
2. Remove bottoms from escarole. Stack and roll leaves. Cut crosswise into 1/2 -inch strips. Wash, drain, and put into boiling water. Stir and cook 3 minutes. Drain and put into ice water. When cool, drain.
3. In a mixing bowl, moisten breadcrumbs with a few tablespoons of water. Add chicken, egg white, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan, parsley, cayenne pepper, and salt and black pepper to taste. Mix well and form into very small meatballs, slightly larger than a marble. You should have about 30.
4. Bring stock to a boil and add pasta. Cook 5 minutes, stirring. Add meatball and cook 2 minutes. Add escarole and salt and pepper to taste. Cook 5 minutes.
5. Serve sprinkling each serving with remaining cheese.
Cooking Tip
To facilitate making meatballs, periodically dip the fingertips of the hand that does the rolling in a dish of water.
Click to enlarge
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