Beans and escarole it is a peasant soup born in the Neapolitan culinary tradition. It is ideal for warming up in autumn and winter. It’s basically one poor recipe, where the bitter flavor of escarole meets the sweetness of cannellini beans. Depending on your taste, you can add a touch of spicy. You can serve this soup accompanied by stale bread or croutons, and a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil.
This recipe is also called by the Neapolitans Skinny Pignato as opposed to Fat pignato or the Neapolitan ammaritata soup. In fact, at the time, not everyone could afford meat, which is indispensable in soup, so we opted for beans, poorer but still high in protein. Today we share with you the recipe forCarmela’s Osteriawho often shares the dishes on his menu on social media.
Beans and escarole
Ingredients
- garlic 2 cloves
- escarole 320 g
- dried oregano
- fresh chili pepper
- laurel
- extra virgin olive oil 30 ml
- salt
- homemade bread
- cannellini beans 300 g
Preparation
To prepare beans and escarole start by soaking the cannellini beans. Then pour them into a container, covering them with water and leave them like that for 12 hours. After this time, rinse the beans under running water, then pour them into a pan with plenty of water. Add some bay leaves and bring to the boil. Cook over a boiling heat for 2 and a half hours, eliminating the foam that forms on the surface with the help of a ladle. Once cooked, drain beans and keep the cooking water aside. Chop the chilli pepper and peel two cloves of garlic. In a large pan, heat the olive oil with the two peeled garlic cloves and then pour in the beans that you have previously cooked.
Flavor with chilli pepper, oregano, salt and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Wash and cut the escarole in strips and add it to the beans. Pour in the cooking water from the beans. Cover with the lid and cook over low heat 20 minutes. In the meantime, take care of the toast: cut a loaf of bread into slices, line a baking tray with baking paper and distribute the slices of bread, season with oil, salt and pepper to taste and then toast the croutons for 5 minutes at 180 degrees approximately or until golden brown. Once the soup beans and escarole Once cooked, serve it while still very hot, accompanying it with slices of toasted bread.