Belgium Endive Salad with Bleu d’Auvergne

Simplicity is a wonderful thing.  Especially in March when the giboulées de mars (brief downpours of heavy rain and hail that occur for who knows what reason in the month of March) hit, leaving you stranded inside with a broken umbrella and unwilling to run down the street to the grocery store – even if the sun is promisingly poking through the mass of clouds.  It’s at this moment that you realize that all you have left in the mini fridge (because most things are mini in France) are Belgian endives and some smelly blue cheese that was too strong to finish off the night before.

Belgian endives were one of those things that I abhorred when I was younger.  Luckily we rarely had them lying around the family kitchen, but, when we ate out on special occasions, they were carefully picked out of my salad along with the radicchio and mustard greens.  And, my appreciation for them certainly didn’t grow when my French host mother served soggy cooked endives in béchamel sauce.  At some point, however, I began eating Belgian endives and started appreciating the delicate bitterness of the white leaves.  Living in France has certainly influenced me since France is the top producer of Belgian endives (even ahead of Belgium).  The plants are grown indoors, and often underground, to prevent the leaves from turning green and becoming bitter.  The color of the leaves is thus important since the whiter the leaves the less bitter the taste.  To the French, a salad of cut endives is a winter dish that can be served simply with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or often paired with blue cheese and a simple vinaigrette. Read the rest of this entry »