in praise of curly
endive

Soil grown endive is one of my favourite greens but oddly it is rarely served in restaurants and when it is, it frequently messes with my head because it is so awful. In Adelaide we are blessed with the most wonderful just picked produce from our favourite supplier Patlin Gardens.

As the endive is soil grown it needs to be well washed and spun if you’re making the salad.

Trim the top and the bottom as shown in the diagram below…this is compost or for the chooks.

The outer blanche for a couple of seconds in boiling salted water, drain well and put into béchamel, top with breadcrumbs and cheese. The blanching does remove some of the bitterness. Or we quite like it chopped and put into stir fry.

The inner part washed, spun and roughly chopped we dress simply with our best EVO, Leonardi sweet balsamic, Maldon and freshly ground black pepper. It is a wonderful finish to a rich winter meal and be prepared to need to dress a second bowl.

AO 5 MAY 21

RULES
TO BE
OBEYED

edive
and
potato
salad

This is our favourite with its roots firmly in the German Austrian kitchens….it’s not really a recipe and really a home dish. We never refrigerate the dressed potato and shallot and only add the endive a few moments before serving.

for 2
125g EVO
100g Leonardi sweet balsamic
50g p/w shallots [red if you can find them – more if you like a lot of shallot] – finely chopped

400g potato….scrubbed, steamed whole, peeled while hot and sliced straight into the vinaigrette shallot mix
Maldon sea salt
white pepper – freshy and finely ground

inner part of 1 or 2 endive depending on size – well washed, roughly chopped and spun

Once you’ve added the potato mix in and season to taste.

To this point can be done 2-3 hours in advance.

to serve
Add the endive and mix well through the dressing. Make sure you divide the dressing over the serves.