Sautéed Escarole with White Tuscan Beans + Uccelletto

The last episode of Lunch with Gianni was a special episode. After the privileged opportunity to cook with expensive winter black truffles for which I am grateful, I’m back in the kitchen cooking what I describe as my “cucina povera”, my “cucina rustica”, the rustic cooking of the poor that I savor all over Italy and in my family kitchen. Seasonal, fresh, simple ingredients that I use to create my favorite dishes.

Sautéed escarole with Tuscan white beans (fagioli cannellini) is one that I make often for a quick healthy meal and to have in the fridge to enjoy one more time with a hunk of crusty bread to soak up the broth or as a side-dish with meat or fish.

Recently I had a hard time finding escarole in my local produce market. I was standing there staring at the available leafy greens. My eyes fixed on Lacinato, tender Tuscan black kale. Hmm, Tuscan black & white, a perfect match, Tuscan small-leafed black kale with a puckered surface and Tuscan white beans. Lacinato kale cooks quickly and is an excellent substitute for escarole.

But escarole is back in my market so that’s what I’m using today. Escarole looks like a head of lettuce but with ruffled leaves. It’s in the chicory family and has a balanced bitter and sweet taste.

After you clean the escarole this dish should be done in about 10 minutes. I’m serving it with roasted Little City hot Calabrian sausages. Don’t like hot use your favorite Italian sausage. Put them in the pre-heated 375 degree oven to roast before you start working with the escarole.

Most use garlic in this dish. I don’t. I use sweet onion instead to enhance the sweet, mellow flavor of cooked escarole. That sweetness is perfect with the yummy, creamy white beans.

I’m also not a snob about using dried cannellini beans. If I plan ahead and I remember to soak the beans overnight I use them. But if I forget and am craving this dish in the morning I use a good brand of canned beans from Italy. Actually, sometimes I prefer canned because I use the liquid in the can that many discard to add a flavor boost and thicken the broth. I’ll show you how to use both.

Escarole and Beans

Ingredients

• 1 head escarole, washed well and cut into 2″ ribbons
• 1 thick slice white onion cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 small dried chili pepper, or a scant 1/4 teaspoon of chili flakes
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus some to drizzle atop the finished dish
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 14 ounce (400 grams) can fagioli cannellini beans (Tuscan white kidney beans) and its liquid
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Put a pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add the olive oil.
3. When the olive oil begins to ripple add the onion, stir and cook until the onion is translucent. You don’t want to develop any color on the onions.
4. Add the escarole, stir and wilt the escarole.
5. When the escarole is wilted add the canned beans and their liquid to the pot. Slosh water in the can to collect the rest of the liquid and add it to the pot. Mix well with the escarole.
6. Reduce the heat to low. Put a lid on the pot and simmer until the escarole is tender and the beans heated through.
7. Serve immediately with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top.

Uccelletto means small bird but there’s no meat in this dish. What up? Story is that it got its name because the same ingredients, fresh sage and garlic were used to cook small birds.

I fell in love with these beans at first bite. They’re often on menus all over Tuscany for just a few euros. I’m making them here with dried beans I soaked overnight and cooked in the morning.

There’s really only 3 ingredients in this recipe to gently enhance but not overpower the delicate taste of the creamy beans. You want them to shine through.

Have Uccelletto as part of your antipasto course or as a side-dish with meat or fish. Enjoy!

Uccelletto

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried white kidney beans (fagioli cannellini), soaked in water at least 2″ above the beans overnight or for at least 5 hours, rinsed
• 5 cups water to cook the beans, be sure there’s at least 2″ of water above the beans.
• 1 cup reserved bean cooking liquid
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 frest sage leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed (or “ba-boomed”)
• 2 canned San Marzano tomatoes, squashed by hand
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Put the water in a pot over high heat and bring to a boil.
2. When the water boils add the soaked beans to the pot. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot.
3. Cook until the beans are tender, about 10-12 minutes. Add a 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt near the end to flavor the beans. Test the Don’t add the salt until the beans are tender because it tends to harden or crack the shell and the beans may become mushy. Taste the beans when you see the shell is wrinked.
4. Save a cup of the bean cooking liquid and then drain the beans in a colander. Set the beans aside.
5. Make sure the pot is dry and return it to the stove over medium-high heat.
6. Add the extra virgin olive oil, garlic and sage leaves to the pot.
7. When the garlic begins to take on color and the sage leaves begin to crisp add the tomatoes and stir well.
8. Add the beans, the bean cooking water, salt and pepper to taste to the pot. Stir well. Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 2 or 3 minutes.
9. Serve immediately or at room temperature.