Belgian Endives Tart; Simple Recipe

Being a prize member of the chicory family, rich in folate, Belgian endive is very good for you - with a distinctive taste on the bitter side. Chopped and mixed in a pan with finely minced onion and a handful of pine nuts, or chopped almonds (or why not both?) it becomes sweeter, but retains its 'subtleness'. It's an original vegetable, which is gaining popularity among cooks and nutritionists.

My simple recipe for a Belgian Endives Tart is this: Simply turn the lightly cooked vegetables and nuts onto any kind of pie crust pastry, (bought is fine too!) in a shallow pie dish and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour!

The ingredients develop a sophisticated savory taste that mixes the slightly-bitter flavor with slightly-sweet. The added crunch of cooked nuts and crispy pastry gives this simple tart an original, wintry texture too.

Whilst your simple Belgian Endives tart is baking in the oven, you could be doing any number of other things!

Endives Tart is also versatile because -

• The ingredients are easy to find in any grocery store or supermarket. Aside from the fresh endives, you may have most of the ingredients already in your home
• Quick and easy to make. (You can toss it together it in a hurry - it will be fine!)
• You can make a meal of just the tart (add more nuts for protein)
• Serve it sliced into fingers as party food on an attractive platter (see the ad here)
• Serve it as a first course
• Serve it a vegetable dish to accompany a roast. It would be good with any roast meat, but particularly good with roast lamb
• Pot luck dish for any party because it accompanies all foods well and is sophisticated
• It's good to eat straight hot out of the oven and it's tasty when it's tepid too
• You can make it in advance and re-heat it in a warm oven (for about 10 minutes)

The Belgian growers claim that the plant was discovered by them in 1830!

They call it "White Gold".

A pie and a tart can be savory or sweet. The differences between them are these:

A pie has a filling beneath a crust. A tart doesn't. It only has a bottom crust.

A pie can be served from the dish its baked in. A tart is served on a serving dish.

Pie pastry is flaky (puff) pastry. Tart pastry is usually crumbly pastry.

If you're going to eat the tart as a meal, or as a vegetable dish at home this simple recipe for Belgian endives tart can be made with any pastry that you have in your refrigerator.

It wouldn't slice well as party food if you use flaky pastry.

Here are some tips for buying Belgian endives.

1. Belgian endive is a fall winter vegetable so it's going to be fresh and inexpensive through the winter and into early spring.
2. For the best zangy kind of important chicory taste, which is bitter, metally and sharp, it's at its best when it's fresh. While shopping for it at markets or supermarkets look for endives with white leaves that are tight till the top with tips which are a golden yellow color.
3. To keep it fresh in the refrigerator, wrap it tight in a damp cloth - eat within a few days!
4. Cooked in extra virgin olive oil, It makes a good complementary vegetable dish to wintry meals.
5. Raw, it's good with cheeses and in salads.