On any January Saturday morning, Nicolas Donck’s booth at the Morningside Farmers Market is lined with basket after basket of beautiful leafy greens. You might find arugula or kale, lettuce or salad ...

This subtle relative of bitter chicories may masquerade among the lettuces, but it's not just for salads. Sturdy escarole stands up to a saute,... As plants go, the chicories are a confusing family.

Escarole is a member of the chicory family, a form of endive with broad green leaves that’s easy to confuse with a head of curly lettuce. Like other chicories, radicchio and endive, those lush leaves ...

While raw escarole has a springy, vegetal quality, a bit like a mild romaine, with heat it seems to mellow and ripen in flavor, growing, like Cinderella, only the sweeter for its ordeal. As plants go, ...