Escarole Sautéed in a Pan

Preparing sautéed escarole is a simple and tasty dish, very common in Italian cooking. Here’s how to do it.

Ingredients

• 1 head of escarole
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• Chili pepper (optional)
• Black olives (optional)
• Salted or oil-packed anchovies (optional)
• Capers (optional)

Preparation

1. First of all, clean the escarole well. Cut the base of the head to separate the leaves and wash them under running water to remove any soil or impurities.
2. In a large pan, heat a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and add the garlic cloves, crushed or whole depending on your preference.
3. Once the garlic turns golden, add the well-drained escarole. If you like, you can also add a small piece of chili pepper to give a bit of spiciness.
4. Cook the escarole over medium heat, turning occasionally, until it wilts and loses its water of vegetation.
5. At this point, you can add black olives, anchovies, and capers if you like, to enrich the flavor. Let everything get flavored for a few minutes.
6. Adjust with salt (be careful if you’re using anchovies, as they are already salty) and, if desired, add another drizzle of raw olive oil before serving.

The sautéed escarole can be served as a side dish or it can be used as a filling for a rustic pizza, for example, or the typical Neapolitan savory pie called “pizza di scarole”.

Curiosity

In Italy, and particularly in Naples, escarole is also prepared in a richer version called “stuffed escarole”: once the escarole has wilted, it is stuffed with olives, capers, anchovies, and sometimes pine nuts and raisins, then folded like a wallet and baked in the oven or sautéed again in the pan. It’s a dish that is often found during the end-of-year festivities!