Luisa Weiss's Braised Endives

I cannot sing the praises of this dish enough, it's a must try and a great way to try a new vegetable you may have never tried before (I certainly had not!). I found this recipe in Luisa Weiss' book, My Berlin Kitchen: A Love Story (with Recipes) who writes this blog that I have been following for a couple of years.  

Ingredients: 

2 endives (Luisa calls for 3 or 4 Belgian endives)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

pinch of sugar

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon of butter (optional; note, I did not use this)

1. Wash and dry the endives and pull off any discolored outer leaves.  Cut them in half lengthwise and trim off the root end, but leave the root end intact.  Cut out the inner core (I struggled with this part, I wasn't exactly sure what consisted of the inner core... you can see in the photo what I removed, but I think more needed to go since it was difficult to cut through while eating). 

2. Heat the olive oil in a heavy, lidded 3-quart saute pan over medium heat.  Put the endives, cut side down, in the pan.  Let the endives cook for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, letting them brown but not burn. 

3. When all the endive halves have been browned on both sides, sprinkle them with sugar, salt and pepper.  Let the sugar melt for a few seconds (I never really observed this, it was more or less immediate - however I probably could have used more sugar... it's difficult to judge what a pinch means!).  Then add the lemon juice, immediately turn the heat to low, and cover the pan (While I used the juice from one lemon, there wasn't much liquid.  Usually braising means the item simmers in a liquid, but since there wasn't much liquid from the lemon and recipe does not call for any other liquid, I was concerned.  After consultation of other braised endive recipes and my husband, it seems this is ok and it turned out great, so don't be worried if there isn't much liquid).

4. Let the endives cook for 15 minutes.  They should be fork tender and caramelized (my endives were large, so they took 30 minutes).  Remove the endives from the pan and put them on a serving plate.  Raise the heat to medium and reduce the cooking juices int the pan to a think syrup, sitting for 2 to 3 minutes (since I didn't have much in the way of extra sauce, I added less then half a ladle of vegetable broth and let it reduce for a little while, not more than 5 minutes).  If you want a richer sauce, add the tablespoon of butter to the pan and stir it in until it has melted and emulsified, creating a silky sauce, an addition 3 to 5 minutes (as per above, I did not use butter).  Pour the sauce over the endives and serve immediately.

Endives are known to be bitter uncooked... braising makes this vegetable much more approachable.  The combination of the sugar and lemon juice draws away the bitterness and the caramelized sides bring a nice roasted flavor to the dish.  The centers of these endives were artichoke heart like, smooth and silky. Enjoy this dish if you try it ... I would love to hear what you think!