Food on the Table

We all know that greens are good for us, but that doesn’t always mean that our picky eaters like them.  Sometimes it’s good to mix it up by continually introducing new greens that your family hasn’t tried.  Adding them to familiar dishes is a great way to expand their palette.  In this week’s recipe I jazz up pasta with tomato sauce by adding a few twists and bumping up the nutritional content with escarole.  Escarole is used in a lot of Italian cooking and pairs well with white beans and garlic.  It is also used in the Italian classic – Wedding Soup.

Escarole is a healthy green that is a member of the chicory and endive family.  It is high in vitamin A, calcium and iron.  Escarole has broad outer leaves that are dark green.  As you peel back the dark green leaves, lighter green leaves are revealed.  As the shade of green lightens, so does the bitterness.  This makes escarole very versatile as you can use different layers of escarole to achieve the taste you want in your recipe.  When choosing escarole, the process is basically the same as any other green.  You want to choose heads of escarole that are bright green on the outside and have no signs of wilting or bruising.  Store escarole in your refrigerator crisper drawer and wash thoroughly right before using.  Escarole is a heartier green than most and will last about 5 days.

For this week’s recipe, I chose to incorporate escarole into an easy pasta dish.  It cooks up quickly and sneaks this healthy green in where they least expect it.  When making this dish, I always make more of the pesto than I need and use it for a sandwich spread or a dip for veggies throughout the week.  Bon Appétit!

Sundried Tomato Pesto with Escarole

Sundried Tomato Pesto

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
1/2 cup canned fire roasted tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup pine nuts, divided
1/2 cup olive oil
1 package penne pasta
1 head escarole, chopped

Crumb Topping

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pasta pot of water to a boil for the pasta and escarole.  Salt the water.  While water is coming to a boil, make pesto.  First you need to reconstitute the sundried tomatoes.  To do this, put sundried tomatoes in a pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil until tomatoes soften.  Add tomatoes to food processor saving some of the water.  Also add garlic, fire roasted tomatoes and 1/4 cup pine nuts to food processor.  Process until smooth adding in tomato water and olive oil until it reaches a saucy consistency.   Season with salt and pepper.  Boil pasta according to directions, adding escarole in the last 5 minutes of cooking.  Drain both escarole and pasta.  Toss with sundried tomato pesto and top with crumb topping.  To make crumb topping, melt butter in a saucepan.  Add bread crumbs and pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper.  Top pasta with crumb topping and fresh basil.

Link up your picky eater recipe here!

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