Quick Beans and Greens

This is a soup-ish recipe from The News Tribune. Thanks to my mom for passing along the article!

Dude, the photo orientation thing is driving me nuts, but I don't have time to fix it right now. So turn your head sideways or something.

Ingredients:
3/4 to 1 lb. kale (could also use collard greens, mustard greens, spinach, Swiss chard, or turnip greens)
1-2 T. olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
Pinch dried red pepper flakes
2-4 T. water, as needed
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Balsamic vinegar, to taste
2 15-oz. cans Great Northern beans or cannellini beans (I used Great Northern)
1 c. vegetable or chicken broth (opt.)
Lemon wedges (opt.)
Grated Parmesan (opt.)

Rinse kale (or other greens). Remove tough stems and compost them. Roughly chop greens. Put olive oil in a skillet. Add garlic and red pepper flakes while skillet is still cold, and cook over medium-high heat until garlic is slightly brown. Add kale (or other greens) and fry, stirring, for a couple minutes. Remove from heat and add salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar to taste. Stir in beans and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add broth and stir. Serve in bowls, garnished with lemon wedges and grated Parmesan if desired.

Comments:
This was really yummy--surprisingly yummy. I mean, I wasn't expecting it to be bad, but I didn't know it would be this good. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to drain and rinse the beans first; the recipe didn't say. So I didn't drain them, and I think that was the right decision.