Chicory wrapped in ham and covered in cheesesauce, is a classic Belgian recipe. It’s not necessarily a healthy recipe, but as a comfort food it’s perfect.
Belgian endive has a lot of different names. Depending on where you are in the world, this vegetable can be: Belgian endive, endive, chicory, witlof or witloof (and probably a few more I forgot). Why exactly there are so many names for one plant, probably has to do with the fact that it’s a part of the Cichorum family. There are a lot of edible plants in this family. But because I already wrote about them in my recipe for green quiche, I won’t list them here again.
But why exactly is it Belgian endive? That question is easy to answer. For centuries, farmers around the Belgian capitol of Brussels, were growing chicory for its roots. After baking and roasting, they grounded the roots into a powder. This powder then served as a coffee substitute, in times when real coffee was scarce and expensive.
As is common with root vegetables, chicory roots were often stored in a cold, dark place like a cellar. Someone discovered that some of the chicory roots he’d stored, had started growing white leaves. These leaves turned out to be edible and, more importantly, quite tasty. From that moment on, about 150 years ago, farmers started growing chicory especially for the leaves. Creating the Belgian endive we know today.
This recipe for chicory with ham and cheese, is a Belgian classic. The exact type of ham and cheese used varies. The ham is always a cooked one, but the most important thing you should look out for is the size of the slices. After all, you need to be able to wrap the chicory heads in them. For the cheese sauce, choose a good melting cheese like Emmental, Gouda or Gruyère.
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servings
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- 3 or 4 heads chicory about 500 g
- 3 or 4 slices cooked ham
- 500 ml milk
- 50 g flour
- 40 g butter
- 200 g grated cheese
- grated nutmeg
- ground black pepper
Ingredients
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- Put the chicory in a covered microwave dish. Cook for 7 minutes at 600 watt.
- Drain the chicory and leave to cool a little bit. Squeeze out any excess liquid.
- Wrap each head of chicory in a slice of ham and place them in an oven-proof dish.
- Make a béchamel sauce. Melt the butter on a low heat before adding the flour. Cook this paste, while stirring constantly. Don't let it brown! Continue cooking until the mixture starts to look like wet sand and smells like cookies.
- Little by little add the milk. Stir the sauce until it starts to thicken before adding more milk. Whisk constantly to avoid lumps from forming.
- When all the milk has been added, wait for the sauce to thicken again before adding half of the grated cheese (save the rest for later). Once the cheese has melted into the sauce, season with nutmeg and pepper.
- Pour the cheese sauce over the chicory and top with the rest of the grated cheese.
- Put the dish in a pre-heated oven at 220°C (425°F). Cook for about 15 minutes or until the top is golden-brown.
- Serve the chicory with boiled potatoes.
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