Magical Greens and Beans Soup

After enduring a long interlude on a waiting list, we finally got a call from Eatwell Farms telling us that we could begin picking up a CSA box from them each week at our neighborhood collection site.

Every morning until the pick-up day, I woke up thinking, "Four more days until our box arrives! Three more days until we get our box!" I felt like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning.

When Thursday came, I excitedly lugged home our order: one box of produce and half a dozen pastured eggs.

Now it's Tuesday. The death grip of speedily decaying greens has been gradually tightening around my neck with each passing day. What to DO with all of them? Bunches of chard...piles of stir-fry greens...a bag of assorted lettuces...Italian parsley...not to mention that bundle of wild arugula and dandelion greens and sage that I couldn't resist at the Ferry Terminal on Saturday...HELP!

I can only handle so many nights of robust, dark green leafy stir fries before I go cuckoo, so today I created my own version of that old favorite, escarole and white bean soup. I basically took everything in my vegetable drawer, deposited it in a pot and heated it. Ok, it was a bit more than that, but not much. It came out splendidly, which I found absolutely shocking given how little effort was required. That's why it gets the "magical" title.

Magical Greens and Beans Soup
Serves about four

2 T. olive oil
1/2 purple onion, chopped
1 bulb green garlic (including green top), chopped
3 carrots, sliced into rounds (peel if you care to!)
Full handful of Italian parsley leaves, lightly chopped
Half a handful of sage leaves, lightly chopped
An even smaller amount of fresh thyme and rosemary, lightly chopped
1 T. Better Than Bouillon chicken base*
5 cups boiling water (approx.)*
6 tiny potatoes, halved
Copious amounts of assorted greens that have been washed, destemmed, and roughly chopped
1/2 of a 15 oz. can of cannellini beans, drained
A bit of spicy Spanish chorizo, chopped into bite-sized chunks (optional; I used some leftovers from the Fatted Calf)
Salt and pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

In medium-sized pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, green garlic and carrots, and saute for five minutes or until softened. Add parsley, sage, thyme, and rosemary and cook a few minutes more. Add Better Than Bouillon paste and stir to coat all ingredients. Add boiling water to pot and cover. Bring liquid to a boil. Add potatoes and greens, and reduce heat so that mixture lightly simmers for 15 minutes. Add cannellini beans and chorizo and simmer 5-10 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and top each bowl with grated Parmesan before serving.

*Or you can just use chicken broth here instead... or veggie broth, of course...