Sautéed Belgian Endive with Pancetta & Crème Fraîche
This is a hearty side dish that pairs well with a steak or veal chop and would take the place of a potato side dish.
Chef Edward Delling-Williams is a British ex-pat living in France. He owned and operated a bistro and separate bakery in Paris, called Le Grand Bain and Le Petite Grain respectively, and hosted a cooking show, Paris Bistro Cooking, based on his bistro experience and others like it on the Paris culinary scene. More recently, he moved to a working farm in Normandy, opened an acclaimed restaurant Presbytere, which is serving as the backdrop for the show, French Country Cooking. Chef Edward has a charming on-air personae, and clearly enjoys what he's doing. But he gets more notoriety on Instagram than he does on the fledgling network where his shows appear, Recipe.TV. It is so fledgling, in fact, that my TV Guide app doesn’t recognize it as a channel on my cable service.
Nevertheless, I saw Chef Edward prepare this dish one night and was happy to finally get a glacially-paced download of the recipe, Endive, Lardons & Cream, but noted that it actually did not correctly reproduce the on-air version in which the chef used fresh lemon juice, not vinegar as the posted recipe had listed. Clearly, Recipe.TV needs help in the continuity department if it can't actually get the on-air recipes correctly reproduced on its website. But thanks to My Number One Fan, I had good notes.
I decided against the lardons and went with pancetta cubetti, which is now routinely available from my grocer. Chef Edward also used a thick, fresh cream in his dish that I thought most likely would be recreated on this side of the Atlantic with crème fraîche. I made a couple of other modifications in Chef Edward's recipe, like the addition of lemon zest, and was very happy with my results.
After tasting my recreation of Chef Edward’s dish, My Number One Fan immediately insisted I post this recipe.
A Study of Belgian Endive - Satuéed Belgian Endive with Pancetta & Crème Fraîche
Ingredients
- 4 large or 6-8 small to medium sized Belgian Endive
- 4 oz pancetta cubetti (like, Private Selection or Boar's Head)
- 8 oz crème fraîche (like, Vermont Creamery)
- 3 tbsp olive oil (if needed)
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- zest of one large lemon
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/16 tsp fine sea salt
- 7-8 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 oz fresh chives, snipped (do not use dried)
Instructions
- Cut each Endive lengthwise down the middle. Do not remove the root stem.
- Sauté the pancetta in a large skillet over medium high heat until crispy, 8-10 minutes. Remove the pancetta to a plate with a paper towel.
- Add the additional olive oil if the pancetta has not rendered enough fat and place the Endive face down in the hot oil. Cook for 5-8 minutes until they become caramelized.
- Turn the Endives over and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
- Turn the heat down to medium low. Add the heavy cream and crème fraîche to the skillet and stir until the two creams are blended into a sauce. Bring to a light simmer.
- Add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Add the salt and pepper.
- Return the pancetta to the skillet, and stir everything well to combine.
- Allow the liquid to continue simmering and reduce the liquid by about half until it coats the back of a spoon.
- Add the chives just before removing the skillet from the stove.
Notes
- This is a hearty side dish that pairs well with a steak or veal chop and would take the place of a potato side dish
