Sunday, January 11, 2009

Escarole and cheddar cheese soup or chedder if you are from Austraila




The soup is served here with a fresh salsa garnish and there are lots of possibilities for garnish --yogurt, sour cream among others...garlic toast.
White beans and escarole have a natural affinity for each other and this a party version of the soup.
Escarole, cannelini beans and cheddar cheese soup.

Ingredients
1 head of escarole
2 cups cooked cannelini beans
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup beef stock
1 cup cheddar cheese grated
2 T olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
2 roasted skinless.boneless chicken breasts (or sautéed) cut into cubes or shredded

Heat the cannelli beans with 2 cups of the chicken stock and then puree
Chop the escarole into bite size pieces and sautee with the garlic until limp.
Add the cooked escarole to the bean and chicken stock puree
Add the grated cheese and chicken and the remainder of the chicken stock.
I used a crockpot but you could also put it in a regular stock pot and simmer it for 45 minutes to meld the flavors.
At this point, I added a cup or so of beef stock from concentrate to add depth to the flavor –but this could be achieved with a bit of chipotle in adobo

It was Western Sonoma County wine night
Hart's Desire Chardonnay Russian River Valley 2005
Adobe Road Zinfandel 2005
and finally a fake Western Sonoma wine called Bohemian Highway which goes from Monte Rio to Freestone but is from a Napa winery...where is the labeling police?

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