Excellent Escarole

          

My share this week came with a beautiful head of escarole and I wanted to use it sooner rather than later so it wouldn't wilt and start to go bad.  I've had escarole about a million times, but pretty much only in this incredible veal and escarole soup my aunt makes at Easter every year.  Because of this, I immediately thought about making a soup, but when I started reading the directions I realized I didn't have the proper cookware to make it happen (add a dutch oven to the shopping list...right after a blender).  Instead, I found a pasta recipe that would fit the bill and not take all night to make.

When I told a coworker what I planned on making she looked at me funny and said, "What's escarole?"  I told her it was a green, but after that I didn't really know what else to say so I knew I had some reading to do.  Escarole is actually a variety of broad-leaf endive.  Endives are high in folic acid, fiber and vitamins A and K.  Most endives are pretty bitter, but escarole is less so.  So, as my dad used to say, we learn something new every day!

Now that's we've covered the academics, let's get down to the recipe - Penne with Sausage and Escarole!

I had 2 sweet Italian sausages leftover from making sausage and pepper sandwiches last week so I figured this would be a good opportunity to use those and some of my share items.  It was also pretty economical because I only had to pick up a few items from the grocery store - red bell pepper, yellow onion, additional sausage and penne pasta.  I already had the garlic and escarole from my share, and the olive oil, salt and pepper and parmesan cheese in the pantry.  The recipe is pretty straight forward and not at all complicated - although taking the sausage out of the casing was a little icky texture wise.

Basically - cook the pasta, sautee the onions, bell pepper, sausage, escarole and garlic then add everything together in one bowl and top with parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. 

The whole recipe can be found on my Pinterest CSA recipe board or just click here.

THE RESULTS!

The recipe was good, but made SO MUCH FOOD!  It would have been perfect for a family of four, but if I were going to make it again I'd probably cut the measurements in half to make it more suitable for a household of 2.  There are a LOT of leftovers in the refrigerator.  It was also slightly more spicy than I thought it would be and I'm not sure if it was from the sausage spices or the amount of black pepper added to the sautee.  Note: The recipe suggests putting crushed red pepper on the top, which I skipped.