Almost four years ago, I said “I do” and married my favorite person- Mr. B. At the time I anticipated a lifetime of shared experiences and mutual affection. Yet years later what has surprised me about marriage, what I didn’t know to expect, is that when two people go through life as a team it is a beautiful thing. If you approach the world with a united front, encouraging and challenging each other to reach shared goals, suddenly it seems as if anything is possible. No matter what successes or failures appear on the horizon, together you can make it through to the other side.
Our partnership also carries through to the kitchen. Together we have fought battles with pasta, celebrated with cheesecake, and nearly fainted from happiness over a slow cooked BBQ pork shoulder. We have found a rhthym in our cooking that keeps both of us engaged and happy to cook another meal. Usually I do the shopping, chopping, and cooking while Mr. B tackles the beverage pairing, taste testing, and dishes. He likes to call himself the “Consulting Chef” (which makes me giggle since don’t chef’s usually know how to cook?) and takes an active role in helping me set the menu each week. Often this means a general discussion of what dish strikes our fancy, what produce is in season, or what item is sitting in the fridge threatening to spoil. After our discussions I’ll get rolling and then ask him to taste and offer tweaks along the way.
When I asked Mr. B for his thoughts about endives this week, I was quite surprised to get a very specific answer. He replied, “We should brush them with olive oil, grill them, then add sun dried tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, and chevre cheese.” Startled I looked at him, wondering how the heck a specific recipe had sprung forth so quickly. He looked over at my raised eyebrows and simply said, “I like endives.” Still quite surprised I decided to not mess with creative genius and made the salad as directed. And what do you know? It was absolutely delicious. Warm endives caused the chevre to melt slightly while pine nuts gave it a contrasting crunch. Sun dried tomatoes provided deep little bursts of flavor to round out the salad perfectly. I’m beginning to think there might be something behind this “Consulting Chef” title after all…
Sprung forth from the mind of Mr. B (Or some secret recipe he claims doesn’t exist)
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
4 Belgian Endives, split in half lengthwise
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Scant 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
Scant 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped
2 oz Chevre cheese, cut into small pieces
Avocado oil
White balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
Lemon juice
Directions:
Pre-heat a grill to 400 degrees.
Rub endive halves with the olive oil until all sides are lightly coated. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the cut side of the endives. Place endives on the grill, and cook for about five minutes on each side, or until the endives are tender (but not limp).
Transfer endives to a platter (or individual plates), trim the tough end off of each endive, and distribute the pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes, and chevre cheese evenly across the endives. Next lightly drizzle avocado oil and white balsamic vinegar across the endives. Finally finish the salad with a squeeze of lemon juice and serve.
