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Serves
6 as a side, easily doubled
Author Notes
I love roasting vegetables that are slightly bitter. Coaxing out its natural sweetness, it inevitably transforms them into something irresistible. Roasting endive is no exception; paired with sweet persimmon and salty feta, the acid in the citrus brings this dish together. I will serve this on my Thanksgiving table because it is easy, elegant and in the oven and on the table in the time it takes your turkey (or tofurky) to rest before feasting. —gingerroot
Ingredients
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3
large Belgian endive heads
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Generous glugs of extra virgin olive oil
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1/2 teaspoon
fine sea salt
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1/2 teaspoon
granulated sugar
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Black pepper to taste
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1 ripe but firm Fuyu persimmon
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2 tablespoons
unsalted butter, cubed
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3 tablespoons
fresh squeezed tangerine juice (can substitute orange juice)
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3 tablespoons
feta cheese
Directions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Wash and trim ends from endive heads. Quarter each head, carefully trimming any brown spots from the core, while still keeping the core intact. Place endive quarters in an 8 inch x 8 inch square baking dish or one similar in size. Using clean hands, toss quarters in a few generous glugs of olive oil, you want the oil to evenly coat the endive pieces. Add sea salt and sugar, tossing to coat. Grind fresh black pepper to taste over endive. Artfully arrange endive in dish.
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Wash and trim end off of persimmon. Halve and core. Slice fruit into thin wedges. Add persimmon to baking dish, tucking pieces between and around endive quarters.
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Dot mixture with unsalted butter cubes.
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Drizzle citrus juice over endive and persimmon.
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Top with feta cheese.
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Cover dish tightly with foil. Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove foil and bake for and additional 10 minutes.
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Crank your oven heat up to broil. Broil for 3 minutes, until cheese and endive are beginning to brown.
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Remove dish from oven, allow mixture to cool, and transfer to table. Serve and Enjoy!
My most vivid childhood memories have to do with family and food. As a kid, I had the good fortune of having a mom who always encouraged trying new things, and two grandmothers who invited me into their kitchens at a young age. I enjoy cooking for the joy it brings me - sharing food with loved ones - and as a stress release. I turn to it equally during good times and bad. Now that I have two young children, I try to be conscientious about what we cook and eat. Right about the time I joined food52, I planted my first raised bed garden and joined a CSA; between the two I try to cook as sustainably and organically as I can. Although I'm usually cooking alone, my children are my favorite kitchen companions and I love cooking with them. I hope when they are grown they will look back fondly at our time spent in the kitchen, as they teach their loved ones about food-love.
Best of all, after years on the mainland for college and graduate school, I get to eat and cook and raise my children in my hometown of Honolulu, HI. When I'm not cooking, I am helping others grow their own organic food or teaching schoolchildren about art.
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