In 1920 Belgian farmers implanted the "chicon", that is to say the endive in the north of France. Since then, our country has become the world's leading producer.
The Nord-Picardie region accounts for 80% of production. A beautiful endive must be firm, very white with the edge of the pale yellow leaves.
Easy and quick to prepare but fragile, it does not like light and can be kept at the bottom of the refrigerator (as short as possible).
Available in bulk or in trays, there are endives of the extra category, in sachets, marketed by the Perle du Nord brand with "more freshness" packaging which limits greening and thus ensures better conservation.
The endive is prepared quickly, just remove the damaged leaves and cut its base. Do not forget to lemon it because it oxidizes in contact with iron (knife).
She likes it in a salad with walnuts, apples and Roquefort...
Its leaves stuffed with tabbouleh, taramasalata, parsley cheese are a good reason to invite it as an aperitif. It is melting and delicious braised or caramelized tatin style.
Chicory, which contains a lot of water (95%) and fiber, is very digestible and very low in calories (15 kcal per 100 g), and rich in minerals (potassium and selenium).
Difficulty:[usr 1 ]
Cut the base of the endives and thin them out. Wash and pat them dry.
Peel, core the pears and dice them.
Whip the crème fraîche, adding the finely chopped chives and the blue poppy seed.
Arrange a few diced pears in each endive leaf and crumble some Roquefort on top, then add the crushed walnuts.
Coat each endive leaf with a tablespoon of fresh cream. Add the Sichuan pepper.
Garnish with a few flat-leaf parsley leaves.
