Italian escarole soup (willan)

4 Servings

Quantity Ingredient
1 quart Lowfat chicken broth, low salt
2 Cloves garlic
1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil, (1 to 2)
1 pounds Escarole, (1small head)
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil, small bunch
½ cup Cooked small white beans, liquid optional
4 cups Chicken stock

GREENS: You can use any delicate green for this soup, including lettuce.

You could also use leftover salad greens, even when dressed in vinaigrette.

Bring stock to a boil in a covered pan. Peel and chop the garlic cloves.

Heat the oil in a soup pan and cook the garlic gently until soft.

Meanwhile, discard tough green leaves from escarole. Trim the stem and pull the inner leaves apart. If they are dirty, wash them. Depending upon the texture you want in the finished soup, chop the leaves: roughly, coarsely, finely. Add the escarole to the soup pan along with salt and pepper and saute 1 to 2 minutes. Meanwhile, strip the basil leaves from the stems and coarsely chop them. Add the boiling stock to the soup pan, cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, until the escarole is tender. Stir in the beans and a little of their liquid, if using; return the soup to a boil. Stir in the basil, taste for seasoning and serves. Makes 4 at 104 cals, 3½ g fat, 544 mg sodium; (22% cff depending upon the chicken broth).

Recipe by: Anne Willan, In and Out of the Kitchen (Rizzoli) Posted to Digest eat-lf.v097.n091 by PATh <phannema@...> on Apr 04, 1997

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