What do you do with Belgian endive?

How do you like to use this produce? (In my case from the market.)

We tried a modified this last night: https://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/baked-belgian-endive-with-ham-and-cheese/


It was OK, but we won’t repeat it.

If you like tuna and cilantro, I've done cream cheese whipped with tinned tuna and chopped cilantro served in endive. Sounds a bit strange but I saw it somewhere and gave it a try. It works.

Christopher Weeks wrote:We tried a modified this last night: https://globaltableadventure.com/recipe/baked-belgian-endive-with-ham-and-cheese/


It was OK, but we won’t repeat it.

Interesting; why not?  I have a similar recipe (using a Gruyère pseudo Béchamel sauce).  I love the taste, but the endive tends to get very wet and sort of slide away from the knife and fork.  Maybe I can find a way to use the same ingredients in a bite-sized dish…

I can see using endive leaves as a carrier for stuff as a fancy appetizer (or informal eating-with-you-hands meal).  Because it’s bitter, the “stuff” should be fatty or meaty, probably.

NB: I love bitter and could munch on endives by itself - your mileage may vary.

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:Interesting; why not?

It seemed really disjointed. The Endive was OK, though I liked it better raw and probably would have liked it better steamed than boiled. But it didn't seem like it went with the "meat" (ours was a vegan lunchmeat alternative) or the cheese. Everyone ate it, but no one loved it. Some of the outer leaves came off when I was preparing it and I ate them raw -- they were good.

There's only one food I really, truly don't like. Belgian endive. People keep telling me I haven't had it cooked right...
Apparently an oven, cream and cheese are needed.
Following with interest.

Last night, my wife said this would be good with a bunch of potato, so I'm putting the leftovers into a potato soup tonight. My fear is that the endive will have just disappeared, but we'll see.

Only experienced endive as part of a salad, I can imagine that it might go sort of slimy if cooked.  Maybe a leaf lightly steamed, so it can be folded around a filling.  Won't make much of a dent in 6 of 'em though.    It's a relative of the Italian Radicchio both being of the chicory family, so there may be some inspiration there. Best of luck.
Edit to add :-  Just registered on "good with potato" comment - There's a recipe from the Netherlands called "Stampf"  ( No idea if I spelled that correctly)
Potatoes and whatever, cooked together then mashed with butter.   Almost anything works - carrot, pumpkin, swede, cabbage, spinach, silverbeet (?swiss chard) and so on.  I've even just cooked the potatoes and then mashed in any heated left over veg.  My grandmother used to make a version that she called King Edward Potatoes (they are a red kind) where she used swede because we kids wouldn't eat swede . . . oh, the trickiness of the older generations.

My standard and what is a safe fallback for a sandwich, and everything I many myself is vegan, is using hummus and pickle slices in it. Any vegetable I would want in it would work with that.

My father-in-law (who's Belgian) makes a stew with endives and minced meat. I think there might be some onions in there as well, and it's served with boiled potatoes. I personally find it very tasty, but I can imagine some people might have trouble with the consistency of cooked endives.