White Bean and Escarole Soup

Three days ago it was 96 degrees at 6pm. Now it's 68 degrees. Talk about a change in weather!

Having grown up in Chicago, I'm used to temperature swings. But almost 30 degrees in 72 hours is pretty strange for southern CA.

So since it's so much cooler (yay, fall!), I made soup! A few days ago, Faith at I Pray to Gouda posted a recipe for White Bean and Escarole Soup. Just like with Peabody's Cheese Twists, I had to make this quickly, or risk it falling into the bookmark-abyss (currently at 360 items, and rising every week).
















While at the market today, I found cavolo nero for the first time, so I used that in place of half of the escarole. I also used bacon instead of pancetta, since that's what I had, and omitted the rosemary, because Hubby hates it. My beans were Sun Vista white beans, which I believe are Great Northern - for canned beans, Sun Vista is the best (but if anyone wants to send me some Rancho Gordo beans, I won't say no!).

I loved the slight bitterness of the escarole, combined with the almost-meatiness of the kale. Cavolo nero cooks up a little differently from "regular" kale, completely retaining its form - I don't think it would disintegrate even if cooked for an hour. The tomatoes provided some nice acidity, complementing the richness of the crispy bacon sprinkled on top. If you make this (and I highly recommend that you do!), please make sure to use a good broth, chicken or veggie, since it's a relatively quick-cooking soup, and the broth is key.

Happy fall!