Wilted Escarole with Feta, Walnuts, and Honey + Negronis

We're celebrating Meatless Mondays with balanced, delicious meal plans. We hope you'll join us -- whether you're vegetarian all the time or just here and there. 

Today, tame wild escarole into an elegant, soft plate of green. Put an egg on it, and you've got a meatless meal that feels like a treat -- it'll be ready before you finish your first drink.

 

If the farmers market were a middle school dance, escarole would be the bespectacled, frizzy-haired girl in the corner. She's rough around the edges; she's bitter. But butter her up, shower her with sweetness, and your ugly duckling transforms into a smooth, sassy, elegant swan. It's like your own personal remake of She's All That. For dinner.

Reining in escarole's unruly bitterness -- and pairing it with a negroni, an unabashedly bitter cocktail -- will make you feel like you've truly achieved something in the kitchen. And let's be honest: that's a feat for a Monday night. Add a few soft-boiled (or fried, your call!) eggs and some good bread, and you have a meal. You really are all that.

The Menu

Take advantage of our handy grocery list and game plan, or click the recipe photos or titles to see (and save and print) the full recipes. 

The Negroni from Erika Kotite

 

Wilted Escarole with Feta, Walnuts, and Honey from Brooklyn Salt 

The Grocery List

Serves 2

1 head of escarole
1 ounce feta cheese
A large handful of walnuts
A baguette or other loaf of good, crusty bread.
Campari
Gin
Sweet Vermouth

We're assuming you already have honey, olive oil, salt, and eggs somewhere in your kitchen. If you don't, better grab those too.

The Plan

1. Get home. Drop everything. Stir together a negroni; if you're too busy to leave out the garnish, we won't tell.

2. Clean your escarole, dry it, and set aside your feta and walnuts. Boil water or heat oil for your eggs. 

3. Cook your eggs. Sear your escarole. Tear off a hefty chunk of bread for you and your date, and reserve the rest for tomorrow.

4. When your escarole and eggs are done at exactly the same time (because you've got game like that), plate them together and garnish the softened escarole with walnuts, feta, and honey.

5. Depending on how your Monday went, you might need another negroni.