How to prepare endives


How to prepare endives
A very classic recipe, but which can easily fail due to two main errors: too much water in bottom of dish because endives give off a lot, and endives that are too bitter so that children hate it.

Here is a method which avoids these two problems.
498 K 3.6/5 (253 reviews)
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Last modified on: February 14th 2012
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For 4 endives, you will need:

Change these quantities to make:
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Times for this recipe
Preparation: 20 min.
Resting: 5 min.
Cooking: 3 min.
All in all: 30 min.
When should you start or finish this recipe?
If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time
To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe


Stage 1 - ⌛ 10 min.
How to prepare endives  : Stage 1
Trim a little from the base of 5 endives (head of chicory), remove and discard any untidy leaves, then wash endives.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 3 min.
How to prepare endives  : Stage 2
Boil a large pan of salted water.

With a small sharp knife, remove a small cone from the bottom and discard it. The cone size depends on endive size, usually about half an inch is fine.

This reduces the endive's bitter taste.

Note:If endive are medium or big size, think to cut them in two, from top to bottom, to reduce cooking and blenching time.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 3 min.
How to prepare endives  : Stage 3
Put endives in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes...

Stage 4 - ⌛ 5 min.
How to prepare endives  : Stage 4
... then remove them using a skimmer, put into very cold water.

You've just blanched endives, and we do that to reduce the bitterness still further.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 5 min.
How to prepare endives  : Stage 5
Leave endives in cold water for five minutes, then drain and dry them. The best way is to use a salad spinner, and then leave on a tea-towel.
Remarks
In this recipe I say "reduce bitterness" because we don't want to suppress it entirely: it's part of the endive taste, its character, that we should keep.
Keeping: Several days in the frifge, in a closed box.
Source: Home made.
Nutritional information
Proteins (gr)Carbohydrates (gr)Fats (gr)Energy value (in k-calories)Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe3 RDI=1 %10 RDI=1 %070 RDI=4 %290 RDI: 4 %
Per 100 g1 RDI=0 %4 RDI=0 %020 RDI=1 %80 RDI: 1 %
Per endives03 RDI=0 %020 RDI=1 %70 RDI: 1 %
The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman
How much will it cost?
  • For 4 endives : 0.45 €
  • Per endives : 0.15 €

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Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
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