Recipe CXXI - Chicory au Gratin

Last weekend, I went to Belgium and while there, I did a little light shopping, where I bought a whole load of excellent beers, but I also decided to purchase Belgium's national vegetable, the endive, or chicory. The Flemish call it Witloof; such an extreme departure from its etymological root, which highlights its importance to the Belgian psyche.

I was never a fan of chicory to begin with, so I was already not expecting great things. But I have a policy that every 5 years or so I try food I used to dislike to see if I have changed taste. The answer here is an emphatic "no". I still hate chicory with all my blood. 

If, in the fullness of time, they should ever ask me what my least favourite recipe is, I shall, without a moment's hesitation, point to this one. I can see the conversation thus:

"So, what is your least favourite thing you've ever eaten?"

"Well, out of the deep-fried scorpion on a stick I was given at a Chinese party, the cat poo I accidentally ingested after falling on it, the half-cockroach I found in a sandwich I bought on a market stall in Moscow or the chicory gratin, I'd have to go for the chicory gratin."

It is the devil's vegetable. It is nothing more than the reincarnation of water in vegetable form, and I'd prefer to eat the bark off the trees before even smelling another one of these satanic plants. 

Nevertheless, other people like them, and I thought I should at least share with you the results of my findings.

Ingredients:

4 to 6 pieces of chicory

The equivalent amount of slices of ham to wrap around the chicory

2 different sorts of cheese (I used Cheddar and Etorki, but Emmental, Gruyère, or such would also do.

Milk, butter, flour, ground pepper and nutmeg for the roux

Satan's own vegetable

Instructions:Firstly, and most importantly, cut out the base of the chicory to remove the hull. If you leave this bit in, your chicory will taste very, very bitter.



Put the chicory in lightly salted boiling water for between 10 and 15 minutes, until they are soft. 
Put on the grill. 
While this is going on, you can make the sauce. Make a roux by melting some butter in a pan, adding flour and milk as if making Béchamel. 
Add nutmeg and pepper, then fold in most of the cheese until fully melted into the sauce. 



Once the chicory is soft, remove it and roll it in the ham slice.



Repeat until all of the pieces are wrapped in ham. Put the ham-wrapped chicory in a decently-sized deep baking tray.



Pour the sauce over the top until totally covering the chicory. 



Use some more of the cheese to grate over the top and sprinkle with black pepper.



Put it under the grill for a good 10 to 15 minutes, or until the top is a nice speckled dark pattern.



Serve with mashed potatoes or equivalent.



Invite a Belgian or two round to eat, and you won't have to throw a lot of it away!

Recipe XLI - Fennel and Potato Gratin with Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Fennel: one of the most underrated vegetables you can find. I simply adore fennel - it needs no seasoning if you don't want, it has its own distinct flavour and compliments so many other dishes. In this recipe, I wish to illustrate how to entice reluctant visitors or children to eat this sadly ignored yet adorable bulbous vegetable.



Ingredients for the gratin:
1 or 2 bulbs of fennel
5 medium-to-large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5cm³-2cm³ pieces
1 onion
1 pot of cream
250g of a decent yellow cheese (e.g. Gruyère, Emmental) - I used sliced Fol Epi
10 ground peppercorns
A couple of knobs of butter
Some olive oil

Instructions:
Switch on the oven to 180°C and put a ceramic baking dish in it. Parboil the potatoes, drain them and let them rest for a few minutes. While that is going on, put some butter and olive oil into a deep frying pan and add the fennel. Fry on a medium heat for 5 minutes before adding the onion. Add the ground pepper and some salt, and continue to fry on a medium heat for another ten minutes. Take the baking dish out. Put some fresh olive oil in the bottom and a knob of butter. Add some potatoes, then some fennel, then some cheese. Repeat the process, until all the ingredients have been used up, not forgetting to put a layer of cheese on top (see below).



Pour the cream into the dish and put it in the oven for about an hour.



Ingredients for the meatballs:
500g minced beef
1 shallot
4 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of oregano
1 egg
Half a carton of tomato passata
A glass of red wine

Instructions for the meatballs:
As soon as the gratin goes in the oven, you will have exactly enough time to get this bit ready, and a bit of time to spare.
Crush and chop the garlic, slice the shallot into very small pieces. Put the minced beef, the garlic, the oregano and the chopped shallot into a bowl. With a fork, work all the ingredients together until they form a homogeneous consistency. Add the egg and mix that in to act as a binding agent. If you have done your job well enough, you may think you do not need the egg. Using both hands, pick up a piece of the mixture and make it into a round shape, as below, as big or as small as you would like. Repeat until all is used up. Remember how many guests you have, and make the balls accordingly. I made 12 in the end, for three guests.



Using the frying pan you had previously for the fennel, heat some oil and fry the balls on a medium heat until all the balls are sealed on the outside. Add some tomato passata, some red wine and some herbs. Once the liquid has heated up, turn down the heat, cover and cook for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally. Add some herbs to taste.



Enjoy!