Cookbook Club – 2nd Anniversary

In August, we had a special event to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of Cookbook Club – I can’t believe it’s been over 2 years, filled with glorious food and fun times with friends! We asked people to cook from any of the cookbooks we’ve used so far. I chose to do the Italian White Beans & Escarole from Cooking for Jeffrey. You can see the whole celebratory meal on my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish!

I had adored the White Beans & Escarole when Sheana made it for our Cooking for Jeffrey event, and while I love bean dishes I don’t really have much experience making them, so I decided to try making this dish myself.

I drained white cannellini beans, rinsed, and drained them again.

I cooked minced garlic in olive oil until fragrant, then added chicken stock, the drained beans, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. I brought to a boil, then simmered for 5 minutes.

I mashed half the beans in the pot, and simmered another 5 minutes.

I added mustard greens (cleaned and cut into 3-inch wide strips), covered the pot and steamed for 2 minutes (the recipe called for escarole, but I couldn’t find any at the store so I used mustard greens instead). Then I stirred the greens into the beans and cooked another 2 minutes.

I removed from the heat, and stirred in Pecorino and Parmesan cheese.

At this point, the recipe said to taste for seasoning and serve. I tasted, and was surprised to find that the dish was very salty. It hadn’t been nearly so salty when Sheana made it, so I don’t know whether I happened to buy particularly salty beans or cheese, but I definitely will hold off on adding salt until the end next time I make this dish.