Just as I threatened, I took Iris to [Cafe Campagne](http://www.campagnerestaurant.com/cafe_home.html) for steak frites. The steak was hanger, cooked beautifully rare, served with roquefort butter. “Keep that steak coming,” said Iris as I cut bites for her. She enjoyed the chewy, blood-rare steak, but she had no interest in the best thing on the plate: leaves of lemony, garlicky sauteed chard and escarole. Fine. More for me.
After lunch, I couldn’t get those greens out of my mind. They were lightly cooked, still a little crunchy, with plenty of lemon juice and butter. It was a perfect winter side dish. So I went through several bunches of greens trying to reproduce it. Every time, I ended up with good flavor but limp greens.
I realized that I was mentally slotting escarole and chard into the same category as kale and collards, which meant my impulse was to blanch them before sauteing. This turned out to be unnecessary and positively detrimental. Greens don’t come in two categories, tender and tough: they’re a tasty continuum from the lightest wisp of baby lettuce to the most leathery turnip green. Chard and escarole, along with other greens like radicchio and lacinato kale, fall right about in the middle. You can braise them gently. If you’re careful to slice and dress them properly, you can use them in a salad, as Melissa Clark memorably did last year with lacinato kale. (I was all excited to try this salad until a trusted friend told me she tried it and it was, well, not so good.)
And you can saute them. I tore leaves of chard and escarole into small pieces by hand. I heated a tablespoon each of olive oil and butter in a large saute pan and added the greens, minced garlic, and salt and pepper. When the greens began to wilt, I covered the pan and let them cook for about a minute. Then I finished them off with a big squeeze of lemon juice. The greens cooked down a lot and I wished I’d started with more, but they were restaurant-quality.
Just ask Iris, who still didn’t want any.
you know you don’t even need to braise chard. It’s like spinach. You can put it straight into the fry pan with some drops of water on it and pan saute for a few minutes with some oil and garlic. My brother makes it that way and it’s astounding.
having spent a few years in an awesome, organic CSA, and feeling sure it would be a sin to waste any bit of the gorgeous veg before me, i oftentimes finagled a lovely spanokopita, either in adorable wee triangle form, or in rustic-pie form, where you fold phyllo dough up in sort of a duodenoid around a greeny, cheesy, (eggy? sometimes) tart/pie dealie… (picture the most rustic cherry and/or berry tart you can imagine, then make it with greens and phyllo. poof!)
or also i’d clean ’em, chop ’em, throw ’em in a bag in the freezer, and then chuck a handful into…pretty much anything. eggs, quiche, soup, stew…freezing kind of breaks down (by way of crystallizing fluids, thus busting up cell walls with pointy, pointy crystals…which results in softer leaves) greens in a lot the same way cooking does, so chucking (cleaned) fresh greens into the freezer kind of takes a step out for you.
i did this often with beet greens, turnip greens, a zillion kinds of chard, kale, spinach…whatev.
Matthew, does escarole have another name? I’ve looked for it in grocery stores across Seattle to no avail. Admittedly, I’ve given up, but if you know where to find it, I’d love to pick some up!
sphitz, I buy it at QFC on Broadway and 15th. I’ve also seen it at Whole Foods, Uwajimaya, and Pike Place Market, particularly at Frank’s.
Bloody hell that sounds good. I think I might well try that tonight.
A duodenoid?
A duodenoid? Sure… twice a week…..
I think I am going to do this tonight with some escarole and frisee with some crab legs.
Thanks Matthew, I was wondering what to cook tonight.
I made this last night using frisee and escarole. At the end I also threw in some chopped flat leaf parlsey. Tasted fantastic. Very simple, very easy.
I don’t think I’ve ever blanched my kale before cooking, I also make salads with it, I just give the acid in the dressing some time to break it down a bit.
I love escarole in salads, and when I cook it, I usually just barely wilt it in olive oil, then splash with red wine vinegar. As for the lacinato kale salad from the NY Times, it is absolutely delicious! This time of year, the brassicas are all sweeter because of the frosts, so I urge you to try it again. I have made this a few times, and at least a dozen people raved about it. Get some vibrant dino kale and give it a go!