WAhoo! I cooked a vegetable! And I owe it all to Meg in Paris over at Too Many Chefs.
Honestly, I’m not sure what happened yesterday. There was something so inviting (easy) about her Braised Endive recipe she posted on the 18th (yesterday). Everything fell in to place so quickly, I knew my corner market had the endives. The deal was sealed, I was off on a mission.
Let’s see, I needed my shopping list:
Endives – done.
Here’s the ingredient list stolen directly from her recipe:
3-4 Belgian endives (enough to fill your frying pan snugly when sliced in half lengthwise)
3-4 Tbs butter
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbs (roughly) lemon juice
1 scant tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
I don’t know what a Belgian Endive is. I figured since Belgian Waffles are large obnoxious things, maybe the endive would be some gargantuan beast. I suppose I’ll never know, the ones I bought weren’t even labelled Endive. I bought a few handfuls, enough to fill my fry pan.
Meg goes on to say you’ll need your butter frothing and install your sliced lengthwise endives in the pan, all pretty. Keep your heat up in the higher range, you want to butter to brown (rich sauce), but not burn. So watch it, FOO. Once your endives begin to brown on the lower edges, turn down your heat. Put in the chicken broth (I used up all my fresh veggie broth, sorry Barrett). Sprinkle in the sugar and squeeze half a lemon over all. Simmer about 20 minutes with a loose cover. Check for tenderness, your simmer time may vary. Once done, salt & pepper (one of my favorite parts).
Okay, so I had a little too much liquid. However, both Mama and I gave it two thumbs up. Very very very good (not bitter in the least). Next time I’ll pull the endives just before they’re done and reduce the broff, then reinstall to finish.
For garnish this time I waved the rendered bacon and opted for leftover minced and crisped up Smoked Goat Leg. The bright lemon zest I used to stuff the leg with played nicely with the endives, perfection.
Thank you, Meg in Paris. We had a wonderful treat during the week and can now integrate this with our monthly meals.
Cheers!
Yippee! Glad to hear you liked it! I guess I should have taken into account the varying sizes of frying pans by simply saying “enough broth to come one third to halfway up the sides of the endives”. Your photo is much prettier than mine!
I saw Meg’s recipe too, but couldn’t get her photo to load. I always think of endive as a salad ingredient, but I’m always open for new veggie optiions.
Hey Meg,
Well, I should have known better too. That’s okay though, I can’t be “on” every second. I’ll get a second chance.
Biggles
Hey Celeste,
When will comments be coming back to your site?
This is most certainly an option, fer sure. Mark it down.
Biggles
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
I have wanted to make this recipe again for years, thanks for jolting my memory. I have such a thing for the bitter greens, I love how they change with heat and braising.
Mmm. That looks great. I really love endive, but I haven’t ever braised it. Thanks for the recipe!
FANTASTIC recipe!!! I had these when I was in Lyon and Paris last year. I made sure every time I went out to eat that the endive was a side dish. When I came home I bought the endive several times and never used them. They’re so expensive here that I disallowed myself to buy them again until I PROMISED that I would find a recipe and make it. Fate and Google found Meg’s and this site. Thanks to both of you!!!
Marcy in Raleigh