Boat Loads of Flavor!

Indivia al Forno con Purè di Patate, Pancetta e Formaggio

Baked Endive with Mashed Potato, Bacon & Cheese

This is another quick and easy snack or appetizer that I came up with, which is a great way to do something cool with leftover potatoes. We all love that classic Dutch or Flemish dish of boiled potatoes and steamed endive wrapped in ham, simple and tasty but also a little bit ho-hum. So I am hoping that is version of basically the same dish is a little more oh-yum!

There is something nice about the combination of the mildly bitter endive, the smooth mashed potato and the crispy bacon and cheese that make this really nice. The bitterness makes the flavors complex rather than boring, despite the fact tthat the ingredients are so... well... ordinary! Which is one of the things that makes this delicious Summer dish so extraordinary!

I started off by pepping-up the potatoes a little. First of all, obviously, I mashed them- I did this simply with a fork, then added finely chopped chives, a little Spring onion, a splash of milk, a dusting of nutmeg and of course salt and pepper.

I cut the endives in half and removed the centers and then spooned in the mashed potato. I smoothed it down carefully, making sure to fill out the endive evenly. I sprinkled them with finely diced bacon and just a little Parmesan cheese and pushed them into a pre-heated oven at 350°F for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, the endives should be softened up already, the cheese melted and the bacon also cooked... so all we need to do now is to get everything golden brown! And how do we do that? Just turn on the broiler for 2-3 minutes of course! And in that time go open a nice chilled bottle of Chardonnay, which would go wonderfully with this... and prepare to enjoy !