Potato & Escarole Soup: Sadly, You’ll Have to Wait for Pictures

Last night our little kitchen was a hive of busy activity. While we didn’t get around to the kimchi (we figured the cabbage would keep until Monday in one of our green bags), we did make an amazing frittata featuring a huge amount of Swiss chard, a big salad with the red-leaf lettuce, spinach/ricotta lasagne, and a potato and escarole soup that I am eating right now. This soup is fantastic and actually would work for summer. We doled out portions for our lunches today and froze the rest and I think this soup would be excellent hot or cold (I’m eating it semi-chilled). We were able to do all of that in about 45 minutes of prep time and now have good things to eat when we return. Thank you all for your suggestions! In the frenzy of cooking and packing, we took photos, but forgot to actually post them – get ready for those later.

In the meantime, here is the potato and escarole soup recipe.

Potato and Escarole Soup

Ingredients:

• 3-4 smashed cloves of garlic
• glug of olive oil
• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 3 medium/large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
• water and freezer scraps (I’ll explain) or vegetable broth (optional)
• 1 large head of escarole, washed well and roughly chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

To Do:

1. Sautee the garlic and the onion in a large soup pot with the olive oil until they are lightly browned and the kitchen smells good.
2. Put potatoes in the pot and stir around a bit. Add enough water to cover the potatoes.
3. If you have freezer vegetable scraps, wrap them in a cheese cloth and stick them in the pot too. Add more water to cover the freezer veggie bag and bring to a boil. If you don’t want to deal with the cheesecloth/freezer veggies, just throw in some regular stock. I have a hunch this will also work with plain ol’ water, but the addition of stock will make it richer. Cover with a lid and simmer for about a half hour or so. I think mine was on the stove for 45 minutes. Meh, I say. It’s just simmering.
4. Take the pot off the heat and let cool for a while. Remove cheesecloth bag and use tongs to squeeze out excess broth (be careful its HOT).
5. Throw in escarole and put lid back on the pot. Go pack things or do dishes or watch The X-Files. Give the escarole time to wilt.  Add salt and pepper to your liking.
6. Take out the solids and blend in a food processor or blender, adding liquid as necessary. Make your soup as thick or as thin as you like it. I like a medium-thick soup, so I had a quite a bit of broth leftover (which I strained and froze, waste not!).
7. Soup can be served hot (winter, crusty bread, cheese sandwiches, etc.) or cold (salad, olives, cheese plate).

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