Ideas for curly endive, chicory, other bitter greens

I mostly use curly endive in spanakopita, or boil/sauté and dress with olive oil and lemon juice.

I have a row of curly endive to use, and I’m looking for new ideas.

How do you like to use bitter greens?

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Scallops with caramelized Belgian endive.

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My favourite way wih chicory is to slice in half lengthways. Then saute cut side down in butter to get some colour. Then add chicken stock and braise till mostly soft but still a bit of resistance. I also throw in some frozen peas a couple of mins before the end. The sweetness works well with the bitterness.

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In the UK, the curly leafy thing is generally known by its French name of frisee. Chicory would be the cigar shaped one - as your link to the BBC Good Food recipes.

I don’t really like the leafy version and try and avoid it as much as possible.

As for the cigar one, I’m with Chris on the braise. But my favourite recipe is to give it the Belgian treatment. Boil the whole cigar until almost soft. Wrap in ham, cover with cheese sauce and bake for 10 minutes or so. It’s a lightish dinner with some bread or spuds.

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The curly endive I grow is a different plant than frisée.

Frisée is tougher and more bitter. I avoid frisée. It shows up in a lot of mixed greens at restaurants.

Frisée (in Canada, at least) looks like this

ING-frisee-main

The curly endive looks more like this

images

There are many varieties of chicory, with various types of leaves. I have planted half a dozen different Italian chicories. Some have been too bitter.

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The cigar-shaped one is called Belgian Endive in Canada (and I think in most parts of the States)

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Sorry about my post. I am endive challenged. I make one dish with it and that’s the scallops. I was so excited to contribute I just blurted it out.

PS - I spent a lot of time standing in the school hallway. :disappointed:

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I only really make 2 dishes, hence the thread!

This is the one dish I’ve made with radicchio

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For the ones you are growing, slice them across the ribs. Start at 3/8" at the ribs and widen to 1" on the greens. For a large head, use one white onion, minced fine. Squeeze 1 lime or half a lemon. You can zest first and use that as well.

Heat a pan and add olive oil. Toss in the onions and saute until soft and mostly translucent. Then add the garlic and continue to saute until garlic is fragrant. Add the endive and toss it to make sure all the endive wilts a bit and gets coated in oil. At this point, add 1/2 cup liquid {These days I use hon dashi and add a bit of glace di vollaile, but you can use water, wine, etc} Cook until the greens are starting to get soft but there is still a tiny bit of bite left. This is my favorite with roast pork.

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Salads! I adore bitter greens in a salad with a mustardy vinaigrette. Frisée is awesome. One of my favorite salads is a salade lyonnaise. I will take everyone else’s portion.

:green_salad::sunglasses:

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I do it like this, but instead of stock I use water, oil instead of butter, and then add some garlic while frying. But both are excellent ways of preparing. :slight_smile:

Warm bacon dressing and some cut up boiled potatoes. Maybe a mollet egg cut into quarters on top.

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I grill all kinds of bitter greens. Take a whole or half a head at a time, put oil on them and put them on the grill. Sear, chop, dress, enjoy.

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The structure of the two dishes are the same. And you can spin any variation using it. For example, if you want a rich dish, fry bacon or pancetta to render some fat, and use it as your fat. Keep the crispy rendered bits for sprinkling on the dish at the end. You could be virtuous by using half bacon fat and half olive oil.

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I’ll eat the eggs and lardons and leave you the frisée. :rofl:

I love frisée just in/as a salad, but rarely can find it here!

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Frisee tastes like hair.

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Only to a friseur.

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I’m a friseur? TIL.

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Only when things get hairy.

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