Since we are out traveling we can’t share any new recipes ourselves, therefore we have asked some of our favorite bloggers for help. So far Golubka, Roost and My New Roots have shared a recipe. Today Gabi from the super cool blog Honest Fare has come up with this beautiful salad. If you are new to Honest Fare we urge you to jump over there. Whether you are in the mood for a seasonal smoothie, an impressive collard wrap or a yummy mushroom soup, Gabi has got the recipe for it. But today it’s a salad. Here is her story behind it:
At the risk of sounding boring (on someone else’s blog, no less), I’m going to come out and tell you that salad is my favorite thing to eat. And make. There’s so much you can do with it, and I also find the act of preparing a salad somewhat relaxing. Do you know what I mean? Washing and drying the lettuce in the same way you’ve done a thousand times before. Slicing the veggies. Arranging the layers of ingredients. It all takes me to my happy, quiet place. A sort of free form, stream of consciousness dilly-dally around the kitchen wherein you can experiment with flavor combinations or just reach for whatever sounds good at the moment and throw it into a bowl. Or in the case of this warm endive and fennel salad, a pan.
Endive, like all chicories, is a member of the daisy family and a close relative to lettuce and dandelion, which it resembles. The cichorium endivia family has brothers and sisters of all shapes and sizes – loose-leaf or headed, curly or flat-edged and of the green or red variety. There’s endive, escarole, Belgian endive, curly endive, baby curly endive (frisée) and radicchio, just to name a few. There is some debate over the exact nomenclature of chicories between countries, but we won’t get into that here. One thing everyone can agree on is that their crunchy texture and wild bitterness make chicories a great compliment to milder lettuces, nuts, cheeses and fruits – all of which I happen to love in salads.
This particular salad was born a few weeks ago when, in the midst of one of my hypnotic salad making episodes, I added some mature curly endive leaves to my bowl figuring it would be similar in flavor to frisée (which is actually just baby curly endive anyway). It wasn’t though. Whoops. Unlike the lacy and crisp frisée I was used to, the tough leaves of this curly endive struck me as a tad too bitter and vegetal for the moment.
The solution? I picked it all out and threw it on a hot pan with some olive oil and sea salt to tame the bitterness. And since then, cooked curly endive salads have been my winter salad of choice.
For this hearty and warm winter salad, I simply braise some red onions and fennel with coarse sea salt and cracked black pepper until soft and evenly browned. Then I quickly deglaze the pan with some apple cider vinegar. I add the curly endive at the end with a good squeeze of lemon juice just before it fully wilts. It’s nice topped off with some diced Kalamata olives and grated Romano cheese. The acidity of the lemon, apple cider and endive against the buttery sweetness of the onions, cheese and fennel are a really great balance – and it’s all oh so nice eaten straight out of the pan!
Hey, thanks for having me here on Green Kitchen Stories and I hope you’ll give cooked endive a try!
Curly endive Red onion Fennel bulb Apple cider vinegar Lemon juice Kalamata olives Romano cheese Coarse sea salt Cracked black pepper Olive oil
Directions: Pluck several leaves of endive; wash and fully dry; tear into pieces and set aside. Thinly slice some red onion and fennel. Dice some Kalamata olives and grate some Romano cheese and set aside for later too.
Get some oil nice and hot on your pan and add the red onions and a pinch of coarse sea salt. Cook on med-high heat until they begin to brown. Remove and set aside. Add a little more olive oil and the fennel to the pan with another sprinkle of sea salt and cracked black pepper. Cook fennel undisturbed for about 3-5 minutes per side. Once fennel is soft and golden brown, add a nice splash of apple cider vinegar to create some steam and deglaze the pan.
Now add your cooked red onions back to the pan and a good amount of raw endive. Remember, the endive will cook down so you can add more than you’d think. Toss quickly and squeeze lemon juice overtop. Remove from heat just as endive begins to wilt. Top with diced olives and cheese. Enjoy!
Curly endive Red onion Fennel bulb Apple cider vinegar Lemon juice Kalamata olives Romano cheese Coarse sea salt Cracked black pepper Olive oil
At the risk of sounding boring (on someone else’s blog, no less), I’m going to come out and tell you that salad is my favorite thing to eat. And make. There’s so much you can do with it, and I also find the act of preparing a salad somewhat relaxing. Do you know what I mean? Washing and drying the lettuce in the same way you’ve done a thousand times before. Slicing the veggies. Arranging the layers of ingredients. It all takes me to my happy, quiet place. A sort of free form, stream of consciousness dilly-dally around the kitchen wherein you can experiment with flavor combinations or just reach for whatever sounds good at the moment and throw it into a bowl. Or in the case of this warm endive and fennel salad, a pan.
For this hearty and warm winter salad, I simply braise some red onions and fennel with coarse sea salt and cracked black pepper until soft and evenly browned. Then I quickly deglaze the pan with some apple cider vinegar. I add the curly endive at the end with a good squeeze of lemon juice just before it fully wilts. It’s nice topped off with some diced Kalamata olives and grated Romano cheese. The acidity of the lemon, apple cider and endive against the buttery sweetness of the onions, cheese and fennel are a really great balance – and it’s all oh so nice eaten straight out of the pan!
Now add your cooked red onions back to the pan and a good amount of raw endive. Remember, the endive will cook down so you can add more than you’d think. Toss quickly and squeeze lemon juice overtop. Remove from heat just as endive begins to wilt. Top with diced olives and cheese. Enjoy!
Directions: Pluck several leaves of endive; wash and fully dry; tear into pieces and set aside. Thinly slice some red onion and fennel. Dice some Kalamata olives and grate some Romano cheese and set aside for later too.
Chives, oregano, lavender – herbs cover row after row of our fields at the Intervale. Our farm manager, Matt, grows a wide variety of common and specialty herbs for the kitchen to ensure that our dishes are teeming with flavor and personality. We’re cultivating the classics – thyme, sage, rosemary, mint, and cilantro, as well as five varieties of basil! You’ll also find an array of unique species, including lemon verbena, shiso, marjoram, and salad burnet.
As Matthew and I transplanted many of these herbs into their respective beds, he spoke of the particular flavor each plant holds before we promptly plopped a leaf or two into our mouths. The simple green leaf of orange spice thyme surprised me with its burst of citrus. The bright purple flowers of the chives left my breath smelling of onions for hours after. Yet, of all the herbs we sampled, two stood out to me above all the rest – anise hyssop and lovage.
Quite unlike anise hyssop, lovage embodies celery-like tones. Its small, pale yellow flowers rest in compound umbels, while its glossy, dark green leaves increase in size from top to bottom. Lovage, Levisticum officinale, is a member of the Apiaceae, or parsley, family, and is well known in the herbalist community as a diuretic. In the kitchen all parts of the plant can be used! Salads adorned with fresh stems; soups enhanced with dried leaves; or dressings, spreads, and brines flavored with ground seeds – its versatility allows lovage to find its way into a variety of dishes.
Here at Sugarsnap, lovage garnishes one of our popular appetizers! Triangular cuts of rye toast decorated with sweet butter and radishes from our farm – lovage ties it all together with its essence of fresh air and imminent rain. Try this recipe at home, or book our services for your next event!
Anise hyssop – Agastache foeniculum – is a native wildflower of North-Central North America, and belongs to the mint family, Lamiaceae. As an herbaceous perennial, it can reach from two to four feet in height and one foot across! Anise hyssop can be found in the cabinets of both chefs and herbalists – as in addition to its lovely flavor, it can be used as treatment for colds and fever. In the kitchen, its fresh leaves will be tossed with salads and concocted into jellies. Dried, the foliage creates a delectable tea. The tangy flowers compliment a variety of fruit salads, while the seeds are well-suited to dress cookies or muffins. In our own kitchen at Sugarsnap, we make simple syrups using anise hyssop to sweeten our ice teas! To learn how to make an herb-infused simple syrup, check out our farm processor, Lauren’s, blog post from this winter linked below!
The source of licorice/liquorice/anise flavor
FAQ
What does endive taste like?
What does endive taste similar to?
Can you eat endives raw?
What’s the best way to eat endive?
What are the different types of endive?
There are several types of endive, each with unique characteristics and flavors. Belgian Endive: The first and perhaps most well-known is the Belgian Endive. This vegetable is characterized by its tightly packed, pale yellow leaves. Its distinctive bitter flavor makes it a great addition to salads or as a side dish when cooked.
What does a Belgian endive taste like?
Belgian endives have tightly packed, firm, pale leaves with a slight green end and a moderately bitter flavor. Red endive: The Belgian endive’s milder-tasting cousin — this endive appears as a cross between another Cichorium (radicchio) and the white endive, with the same firm leaves as the white endive, but a deep red-purple color.
What is endive used for?
Like other crisp, delicate greens out there, one of the most popular uses for endive is in salads. Because it doesn’t have an assertive flavor, endive works in salads alongside bold flavors like cheese, garlic, and even anchovies.