Simple Farmstyle Belgian Endive With Bacon And Blue Cheese

Total Time: 57 mins Preparation Time: 7 mins Cook Time: 50 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 3
• 3 heads belgian endive
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 6 -12 slices bacon (depending on size)
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (45 ml)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1/2 ounces blue cheese (your choice)

Recipe

• 1 set oven at 325 deg f/ 160 deg celsius.
• 2 thinly slice off the discoloured end of the endives.
• 3 cut each endive in two, lengthwise. if any leaves fall away, gather them and use them when wrapping in the bacon strips.
• 4 season each endive half well with ground nutmeg and pepper. it is fine just to season the cut halves, because they fall apart easily when handled.
• 5 wrap each halved endive in one or two slices of bacon with a fatty rind -- you need that. depending on the width of your bacon you might need only 1 slice. i used "back bacon", which has a lean part with a fatty edge.
• 6 put the bacon-wrapped endive halves in an oven dish, and spoon in the balsamic vinegar.
• 7 drizzle each wrapped half with drops of olive oil, and put a piece of foil loosely over the dish.
• 8 put in the pre-heated oven. after 15 mins remove the foil and bake another 30 minutes.
• 9 while they're baking roughly crumble the blue cheese in chunks.
• 10 take the dish from the oven, divide the crumbled blue cheese among the 6 endive halves, and bake another 5 minutes or until the cheese starts collapsing and melting.
• 11 serve as a side dish with a simple chicken dish, a carb like basmati rice, and some sweetish veggie like butternut or sweet potatoes. the sweetish side dish complements the salty endives.
• 12 the endives will still be slightly crunchy.