Last week I came home, and there was a box waiting for me by my door. It was full of gorgeous white and red endives from Discover Endives. I've been a fan of endives, but if you've never heard of them or seen them in your store, here's a little description from the website:
WHAT IS ENDIVE?
Endive is a member of the chicory family, which includes radicchio, escarole and curly endive. It is often called the queen of vegetables and is prized the world over.
It has a crisp texture and a sweet, nutty flavor with a pleasantly mild bitterness — great served raw or cooked.
So Special...It's Grown TwiceEndive is one of the most difficult vegetables in the world to grow, requiring a two-step process before it is ready to be enjoyed.
The first growth takes about 150 days in the field, where the chicory plant grows from seed into a deep root. Tops of the leafy plant are then cut off, roots dug up, and placed in cold storage, where they enter a dormancy period.
As demand necessitates, roots are removed from cold storage for their second growth, which takes 20 to 28 days in dark, cool, and humid forcing rooms, similar to mushroom growing. Thus, endives are available year-round.
I've purchased endives multiple times at my grocery store and used them as vessels to hold fun ingredients such as beets, grapefruit and blue cheese. For some reason, I'm not a fan of cooked endives. So this time around with a large box of endives I made several salads, gave some to my friend Cindy, and then decided to come up with a few fun ideas to share with you.
Endive "Spring Rolls"
Ingredients
endives
ripe mango, peeled & sliced into thin strips
cucumber, sliced into thin strips
carrot, peeled and sliced into thin strips
dipping sauce
1 part hoisin sauce
1 part peanut butter (I used the one with nuts)
Kikkoman Ponzu soy sauce to taste (Thank you, Foodbuzz!)
fresh cilantro, chopped
enough water to thin the sauce to the consistency you like
Directions
1. Combine dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl.
2. Arrange the mango, cucumber and carrot strips inside the endive leaves.
3. Serve with the dipping sauce.
What can I say? I think this is a gorgeous appetizer or a snack. It's super colorful, healthy, has balanced flavors of saltiness and sweetness and is just fun to eat!
Do you like endives? How do you use them in your kitchen? Please share as I still have a few of them sitting in the refrigerator.
15 comments:
The red endives are gorgeous and love the flavor combination of your dipping sauce! I love filling the endive leaves with roasted pears, crumbled blue cheese, and toasted walnuts.
So pretty! And yes I like endives, almost every veggie, actually!
Yum! What a simple recipe with beautiful pops of color! I basically use endives to dip in things, in place of chips. It also makes for a great appetizer when entertaining because it makes for a nice display.
I like endives, but not sure what I would do with a whole BOX of them. I make Giada's crab salad using shrimp instead of crap. Great for parties. Love your creativity here.
These look gorgeous! It's too bad I don't like endives. :(
I like Endives. Although I had never eaten them until I met my husband. He used to prepare little Hors d'oeuvres and appetizers all the time when we were dating. I loved it and tried several new things. (I'll have to remind him of those days)
Anyway, he would put Goat cheese in the center and serve them along side olives, pineapple and other cheses.
I like the idea of the dip. And, I love the colorful combination of your "Spring Rolls"!!
Yum, I love endives! I like to use them in place of tortillas for taco filling, or to scoop hummus. Last night I used the leaves of one in place of a bun around a veggie burger! They're sturdy and delicious -- just the right amount of peppery snap. I'll have to try your spring rolls!
I've never used endives...but maybe I should start. I imagine they would make fantastic "vessels" for something like sauteed shrimp : )
Wow those are the most amazing colours for a meal that i have ever seen. Almost too pretty to eat!
We were in The Netherlands and Belgium just last week and they sell endives in a bag, just like you would buy lettuce in a bag here in the States. I love whipping up a garlicky, anchovy dressing to go with my chicory family members. I'd have never thought to do this with the leaves though. Love it.
Its like a veggie rainbow :D. By the way, I admire your cutting skills, I don't think I'd be able to cut carrots so finely like that.
I've never eaten endive.
*kisses* HH
I do like endive and these are so gorgeous! I like how you presented them!
These look so fresh and yummy not to mention colorful! I saw a recipe by Giada once that had a sundried tomato/parmesan mixture in it. Yum!
Great photos! Love the rainbow of colors from all of the veggies.
Dont you just love delicious packages waiting to you at the door!!!! YUM
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