Late fall and early winter brings forth glorious greens. Among them are the lovely snowy teeny heads of Belgian endive. While I can't decide the best pronunciation for endive, I certainly do enjoy eating it. When raw, it is incredibly crunchy and bitter. It's great chopped in a salad with other greens, but too bitter to stand on it's own. However, give it a nice slow braise to take the edge off and it turns into a tender, complex early winter vegetable dish.
I served this over polenta to catch all the cooking juice and vinegar run off. The blue cheese is optional, but adds a nice extra oomph to the dish if serving as a main course.
4 small heads Belgian endive
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Cooked polenta
4 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese (optional)
Remove any bruised outer leaves from the endives. Trim a little off the core end, but don't cut the core entirely off. Halve each endive lengthwise.
In a medium dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the endives, cut side down, and cook 5-7 minutes until beginning to brown. Flip over and cook another 5 minutes until both sides are browned.
Add wine to pan and cover. Cook 25-30 minutes until the endives are soft.
Add vinegar to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer until reduced by half, about 2-3 minutes. Watch carefully, it can go from perfectly syrupy to burned mess in just a few seconds.
Pile polenta in center of individual plates. Top with blue cheese crumbles then endive. Pour reduced vinegar over endives. Season with freshly ground pepper.
Serves 2
I served this over polenta to catch all the cooking juice and vinegar run off. The blue cheese is optional, but adds a nice extra oomph to the dish if serving as a main course.
4 small heads Belgian endive
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Cooked polenta
4 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese (optional)
Remove any bruised outer leaves from the endives. Trim a little off the core end, but don't cut the core entirely off. Halve each endive lengthwise.
In a medium dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the endives, cut side down, and cook 5-7 minutes until beginning to brown. Flip over and cook another 5 minutes until both sides are browned.
Add wine to pan and cover. Cook 25-30 minutes until the endives are soft.
Add vinegar to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer until reduced by half, about 2-3 minutes. Watch carefully, it can go from perfectly syrupy to burned mess in just a few seconds.
Pile polenta in center of individual plates. Top with blue cheese crumbles then endive. Pour reduced vinegar over endives. Season with freshly ground pepper.
Serves 2
1 comment:
This looks delicious. I just made a balsamic reduction the other day for the first time to drizzle over roasted veggies and it was awesome. I bet it would work well with this dish, I may need to stop by the grocery on my way home.
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