As I’ve mentioned, my wife and I belong to a local farm delivery service that provides mainly organic produce at the height of a particular fruit or vegetable’s growing season. The service, for locals, is called Just Farmed and operates out of Westfield. This week, we received a head of escarole. I was excited as I don’t have a lot of experience with escarole. I knew it was a bitter green and that it is typically braised. So, since I lack some experience with the vegetable, I went with a traditional cooking preparation: simply braising it in a stock with thinly sliced garlic and onion and finished with a bit of lemon zest to perk everything up. I probably would have used a shallot instead of an onion but onion is what I had on hand and I didn’t feel that it warranted a special trip to the store. So, feel free to use either…you can’t go wrong with onion or shallot (unless you’re my dad, who dislikes both). The good news here is that this dish probably takes around 30 minutes, which is a relatively short amount of time for a traditional braise.

Full disclosure: I probably overcooked this. It tasted great but I waited until the already reduced stock, reduced to a small amount of liquid in the pan and as such, I believe the escarole became overdone. So, learn from my mistake and use a small amount of stock. You can always add more if needed! Either way, the finished dish tasted great and imparted a slight bitterness that was certainly mitigated by the sweetness of the onion and hint of lemon zest.  Recipe follows after the jump.  Enjoy! Continue reading →