Preparation: 30 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Serves 4
Ingredients
• 4 endives
• 2 slices of boiled ham, trimmed and cut into 5mm cubes
To braise the endives
• 150g vegetable stock
• a pinch of sugar
Mornay sauce
• 50 g butter
• 50 g flour
• 50 g semi-skimmed milk
• 50 g pouring cream
• 20 g egg yolk (1 egg)
• 150 g grated Gruyère AOP
• nutmeg
• 1 lemon
• fleur de sel
• freshly ground pepper
• Espelette pepper
Preparation
Braised endive
In a pan, bring the vegetable stock to a gentle simmer and braise the endive for about 20 minutes.
Reduce the remaining stock until you are left with about 2 tbsp liquid. Put this to one side.
Mornay sauce
Melt the butter over a low heat and add the flour.
Mix these to form a roux before adding the milk and cream. Cook until the sauce is smooth and silky.
Now add the grated Gruyère AOP, the juice of half a lemon and the egg yolk. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Tightly cover with clingfilm and keep at room temperature.
Cut each endive in half, remove the centre and add a first layer of Mornay sauce. Sprinkle this with diced ham and cover everything with more sauce. Repeat this operation for each ½ endive.
Under a preheated grill, briefly brown the assembled dish, dust with Espelette pepper and serve immediately.
Tip : To make the dish even more special, use the stock reduction to dress the plates just before serving.
Le Gruyère AOP®
