Endives with ham au gratin
Endive in water, very little for you? Generous and comforting, this recipe for endives with ham will definitely reconcile you with chicory (as they are nicknamed in the North). Stripped of their core, rolled up in slices of cooked ham and topped with a creamy béchamel sauce, their bitterness vanishes as if by magic. A gratin dish as we like them, ideal in winter to whourshearts, which is more than enough on its own.
Ingredients :
- 8 Chicory
- 4 slice(s) white ham
- 100 g grated cheese
- 75 cl Milk
- 80g Butter
- 50g Flour
- 50g Breadcrumbs
- 1 pinch(es) Nutmeg
- 1 pinch(es) salt
- 1 pinch(es) Pepper
Preparation :
-
1
Remove the withered leaves from the endives and possibly the curly tip (which concentrates a lot of bitterness). Remove their heart by digging the foot with a knife, then rinse them under cold water. Drain them.
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2
Heat 10 g of butter in a frying pan. Arrange the first 4 half-endives, and bring them back and brown over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Place them in a rectangular baking dish. Put 10 g of butter back into the pan, and cook the remaining 4 endives in the same way.
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3
While your oven preheats th.7 (210°C), prepare the béchamel. Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan, then add the flour off the heat and mix it with the butter. Then add the milk in several batches, and whisk vigorously to avoid lumps.
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4
Put the pan back on the heat, and let the béchamel “set” (thicken) little by little over low-medium heat, while stirring regularly. At the end of cooking, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and incorporate half of the grated cheese.
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5
In the oven dish, wrap the endives in a slice of white ham, then coat everything with the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and the rest of the cheese on top, then bake for about 15 minutes, the time to brown. Serve hot, with lettuce or lamb’s lettuce in vinaigrette.
Diet:
Endives with ham are an emblematic dish of northern France. This timeless dish is known to be very complete and nutritious. Indeed, endives have the advantage of being very low in calories but also very rich in fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants which protect the body from premature cellular ageing. Ham, on the other hand, is a source of high-quality lean protein, which helps maintain muscle mass, among other things. Grated cheese adds calcium and phosphorus to this recipe. To lighten this dish of endives with ham, the béchamel can be made without butter.
Tips
To ensure that your endives will no longer be at all bitter, caramelize them by adding powdered sugar with the melted butter when pan-frying them. And if you want to make your recipe for endives with ham even more delicious, add a few cubes of blue cheese from Bresse or Roquefort between the béchamel sauce, the breadcrumbs and the grated cheese.
