Weekend Cooking: Pork, Bean and Escarole Soup (from Cooking Light)

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This week I'm co-hosting a workshop for my fellow bobbin lacemakers (more on that in a future post--I hope). As a consequence, I was all about fast and easy dinners. Thanks to the current issue (May 2015) of Cooking Light, I was able to get a healthful dinner on the table in under a half hour.

There are so many great dinners in the "Speedy Recipe" feature in this magazine, I'm sure I'll be cooking from it for a while to come. Two of the winners were Quick Chicken Vegetable Curry (see my Pinterest board for my notes) and the following pork soup, which I cooked as is. (NOTE: the scan is from the magazine; all rights remain with Cooking Light.)

Pork, Bean, and Escarole Soup
serves 6

• 1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups unsalted chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 8 cups chopped escarole (1 large head)
• 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Combine pork, rosemary, black pepper, salt, paprika, and red pepper in a bowl.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl. Add pork mixture; saute 2 minutes. Add onion and garlic; saute 4 minutes. Add stock, tomato paste, and beans; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook, partially covered, for 10 minutes. Mash half of beans in pan with a potato masher. Stir in escarole; cook 2 minutes or until wilted.

Ladle about 1-3/4 cups soup into each of 6 bowls; top each serving with 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese.