My Endive Challenge

I decided that endives are fascinating. They're somewhat bitter, so maybe it's part of a spring cleanse craving. For this month's challenge, which was basically to purchase and use an endive, I researched braised endive, braised endive with ham, endive with shrimp, with avocado, with Stilton, and with smoked trout. While they all sound delicious, I decided in the end to riff on a fennel salad someone brought to a work potluck. It was amazing, composed of shaved fennel, dill, oil-cured olives, and a white balsamic vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

• 1 endive
• 1/2 cup oil-cured olives, pits removed
• 1 Meyer lemon
• 1 T white balsamic vinegar
• 1 T grapeseed oil (or any oil of choice)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 T chopped shallot
• Dill

Assembly:

• Zest the lemon and place half the zest in a bowl or cup measure. Juice the lemon, add the vinegar and oil, salt and pepper, and whisk.

• Toss endive, olives, shallot, and vinaigrette. Garnish with fresh dill. Serve!

Notes: I served this with lasagna. It was great. I am now officially in love with white balsamic vinegar, and have been making vinaigrette with it constantly! It's a great complement to the bitter crunchy endive. This salad was niçoise-y enough to think it might do well with anchovies or some other little fishy friend. It could also be bulked up with orzo or even go on top of another salad as a crunchy condiment. Go try an endive (or a Meyer lemon, or white balsamic vinegar) today!!

What do you do with endives? Do you like them?


Past challenges of 2013:

January: Kusa.
February: Cauliflower Pizza Crust.
March: Beef & Ale Hand Pies