Escarole salad for lunch

Scarole. Escarole. It's a variety of chicory or endive. The outer leaves are green and slightly bitter. The inner leaves are whiter, more tender, and less bitter. Escarole grows to a huge size and the leaves can be eaten raw as a salad green or they can be cooked like spinach or cabbage. We make salads, mostly, when we have escarole.

Because the leaves are slightly bitter, escarole salads like to be accompanied by sweet or salty ingredients. Diced beets are one classic accompaniment in France, as are cooked lardons salés ou fumées — bacon or ham, smoked or salt-cured. So are croutons — cut some French bread into small cubes and toss them in a big bowl with olive or other oil. Toast them until browned and add to the salad after you've tossed it in a vinaigrette dressing.

I took the scarole out of the fridge a minute ago so that you
could see how big it is. We've already had two escarole
salads, and what's left still weighs over 2 lbs. (a kilo).

Minced raw garlic in the vinaigrette dressing — a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a tablespoon of vinegar, and three tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil plus some salt, pepper, and minced garlic — is perfect with escarole or other bitter greens. Substitute chopped shallot or finely chopped onion for the garlic — that's good too.

Did I mention that escarole is good with a poached egg?

Escarole salad with diced beets is excellent, if you like beets/beetroot. Add some toasted walnuts with the beets, or make the salad with toasted walnuts instead of roasted beets. I think I'll make that one today, since we had escarole salad with beets day before yesterday.

We had good luck poaching eggs by breaking each one into
a ladle and then gently sliding them into simmering water.

What about yesterday? We put together a big escarole salad that made us a full lunch. Garlicky vinaigrette as described above, sautéed smoky lardons of pork belly, and a poached egg or two on top. As a side dish, another ingredient that loves vinaigrette: boiled red potatoes, served slightly warm with the "bacon and egg" salad. Don't forget to put the pepper grinder on the table, and the red wine. French bread too...