Honey & Butter Braised Endives

I ate really good food while I was in Belgium. I knew I would but somehow I was still really impressed by the cuisine and pleasantly surprised by the variety of dishes. One evening, I went to a highly reviewed restaurant, Nüetnigenough and had a delicious preparation of tender beef cheeks that came with a side of braised endives. I tasted them and immediately detected honey and unctuous butteriness. I called over the server to confirm how these were prepared and made a mental note to try and recreate them when I got home.

Ingredients [serves 4]:
6 to 8 endives, halved
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon salt

These are really easy to prepare. Basically, toss all of the ingredients into a pan, pop onto the hob over medium low heat, and gently cook for 12 to 15 minutes or until the endives are tender. Baste the endives with the melty honey butter every so often and that's it. Use a good quality honey that you enjoy the flavor of.

I served these up with a pile of roast chicken wings. It was a lovely, homey meal. The endives get really tender and soft and they do a great job of soaking up the flavor of the honey and butter. That slight sweetness offsets the natural bitterness of the endive leaves.

Here's the recipe page: