endive

It's known as "white gold" in some parts of the world, and while there may be some debate on how it should be pronounced (en-DIVE or ON-deev), there is no debating the fact that Belgian endive is simply delicious.

Endive is an incredibly interesting leafy vegetable, starting with the fact that it is grown in the dark. The story of its discovery goes like this: a farmer in Belgium was storing chicory roots in his cellar. He forgot about them and came back to find that they had sprouted leaves even in the dark, damp cellar. He took a bite and found that he loved the tangy, slightly bitter flavor of the bundle of leaves, and thus, Belgian endive was born.

Find out how to grow your own Belgian endive and how to best enjoy it when you read on.

New Year's Eve is a time for celebrating, so I always like to keep the food simple and delicious — with lots of sparkling, of course. To avoid a bunch of cleanup after a party, I prefer to serve appetizers with no utensils required. An endive spear filled with sweet potatoes, bacon, crème fraiche, and a sprinkling of chives fits the ticket perfectly.

I experimented with these on Christmas to make sure they are perfect for New Year's Eve. The sweet potato and bacon I prepped the morning of, sautéing it until nearly finished. Just before my guests arrived, I reheated the bacon and sweet potato mixture in a pan and plated the dish. The bitter endive and peppery bacon balanced the sweetness of sweet potato. Each bite reminds me of a more complex baked potato with all of the fixings. Celebrate your New Year's with sweet potato endive spears, and get the recipe by reading more.

One thing I look forward to during the Winter months is the arrival of the leafy green escarole. It's a variety of endive, making it a bitter green, but it's much less bitter than Belgian endive, radicchio, or frisée.

Like most leafy greens, escarole is great for you. It's high in folic acid, vitamins A and K, and fiber. It also contains a good amount of vitamin C and potassium. When shopping for escarole, look for a bunch that is brightly colored with perky leaves, and avoid bunches that have browning or yellow limp leaves. Make sure to wash the leaves thoroughly before you use them and cut off a tiny bit of the stem too. I can usually get away with storing escarole for about five days in a plastic bag in my refrigerator.

What's great about escarole is how many uses you can get out of it. It tastes wonderful cooked in pasta with an olive oil-based sauce, and in Italy it's used widely in hearty Winter soups — one of the most popular being a white bean escarole soup. You can chop up a few leaves raw and add it to a salad for extra dimension, or try it my favorite way: saute the escarole with olive oil, a little salt, fresh garlic, and some chili flakes. I love this dish!

Cooking escarole makes it less bitter, but a trick to tone done raw escarole is to soak it in ice cold water for about 20 to30 minutes. This will also work for other bitter greens too.

Have you tried escarole? Share with me how you like to prepare it in the comments section below.

Source: Flickr User wickenden