Bean and Escarole Soup (Or Crostini)

It's now prime soup making season—which I'll be doing a lot of, especially since my sweet mom sent me an immersion blender and we're already hitting lows in the 30s here!—so I've been going through some of my favorite recipes for inspiration. The one shown here was one of my favorites from the cooking course I took in Italy last summer. I've posted a handful of the recipes from that week because they are simple, flavorful and on the whole, really comforting (I'm Italian American, so I'm programmed to love this sort of food!). With this one, I also particularly love the photo I snapped, which hangs on the wall in my kitchen. You can make this as a soup, or as a crostini. I've made it both ways and loved it each time.

Bean and Escarole Soup OR Crostini
from Organic Tuscany
Serves 4 as a soup starter, or makes 24 crostini

10 oz cooked cannellini or borlotti beans and the water they were cooked in
1 head escarole (or any curly bitter lettuce)
2 cloves garlic
2 small chilli peppers
Olive oil


1. Boil the lettuce in plenty of boiling, salted water. Squeeze the water out, and chop it finely.
2. Stir fry the garlic (whole) and the chilli peppers in a good swoosh of olive oil.
3. Add the cooked lettuce and cook for a little while, so that the lettuce takes on the flavors of the oil.
4. Add the cooked beans and 2 cups of the water they were cooked in. Cook on a low flame for 10-15 minutes.
5. Serve with warm bread or toast, rubbed with raw garlic.