Barquettes d'Endives au Roquefort et Noix
(bar-KET dahn-DEEV oh roke-FOR eh NWAH)
L'Heure de l'Apéro: The Daily Parisian Unwinding
Six-thirty on a Thursday: separate the leaves, unwrap the foil-wrapped Roquefort, and start mashing good, pungent blue cheese with a little cream so it actually adheres to the leaf. Even on a weeknight, the appearance of endives on the counter meant Friday night had arrived. American happy hour is often a heavy, dip-laden affair designed to ruin your appetite. This assembly uses whatever you can grab at a Midwestern supermarket. Here is the entire blueprint for the coffee table before the pale leaf snaps.
Before you start
Prepare the endive boats.
Trim a quarter-inch off the root end of the endives and gently peel away the leaves one by one, trimming the root further as needed to release the inner layers.
Clean the leaves carefully.
Wipe the leaves with a damp paper towel rather than soaking them in water, which makes them soggy and overly bitter.
Ingredients
- Belgian endives2 large
- Roquefort or creamy blue cheese4 oz
- crème fraîche or full-fat sour cream2 tbsp
- walnut halves1/2 cup
- black pepper1/4 tsp
Method
- 01
Mash the cheese and cream into a rustic paste.
In a shallow bowl, vigorously mash the room-temperature blue cheese and the crème fraîche together using a standard dinner fork until you have a thick paste with visible nuggets of cheese remaining.
- 02
Fill the endive leaves.
Spoon about a teaspoon of the cheese mixture into the wider, scooped base of each endive leaf, arranging them on a platter like a fleet of little boats.
- 03
Garnish and serve immediately.
Scatter the crushed walnuts over the cheese and finish the platter with a generous crack of black pepper.
Notes
Balance the bitterness.
If your blue cheese is particularly aggressive or your out-of-season endives are overly bitter, a tiny drizzle of honey over the top brings the whole bite into perfect harmony.
Avoid the vinaigrette trap.
Resist the urge to dress the endive leaves in a vinaigrette. For an apéro format, it makes the boats slippery to hold and accelerates the wilting process; the fats in the cheese provide all the necessary richness.
From Cook French in America.