Dish 44: Braised Escarole

Not sure I like lemon in savory dishes. It goes back to my childhood and some awful lemon pepper chicken my dad made. I can't remember if it was a powder or frozen but it really turned me off to the whole concept. It was the fake lemon flavor- even having real lemons hits those memory notes for me.

But I saw this recipe from Tyler Florence I still wanted to give it a try. Mostly because I had all the ingredients (bought a few extra lemons for the green harissa). I cut the recipe in half, added a scallion:

- 1/2 lb escarole - about half a head

- 1/8 cup olive oil
- Small pat of butter
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced

- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 scallion, chopped

- 1/4 lemon, cut in thin slices

- ~1 cup turkey broth
- Pinch of sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste

Wash the escarole gently, then chop latitudinally into ribbons. Does that make sense? That's the best weird way I can describe it.

Heat your butter and oil in a pan, add the garlic, red pepper flake, bay, lemon and scallions. Cook for a few minutes, stirring, then add the escarole. Cook that until starting to wilt, then add you sugar and seasonings to your liking. Add the broth to about cover the greens, put the lid on, and simmer until tender or you're hungry and just feel like eating dinner already. For me that was about 10-15 minutes.

I served it with quinoa and like my attempt at Indian, liked it better with the grain. 

 

And don't get me wrong, the lemon made sense to me- citrus is good to cut the bitterness anywhere, from beer to escarole. At first I was pretty turned off, by the end I was enjoying it. Mostly. I did pick out all the lemon pieces from the leftovers to curb any more infusion it could add, but I'm glad I made this. I want to push my food comfort boundaries a little and overcome any weird avoisions I may have.

Note for Improvement: Cut back on the lemon next time- or at least don't add it all at first. You can add but not remove. Ease into it.