Endives with ham and cauliflower with Babette's Béchamel

Europe 1 16:01 p.m., November 25, 2023

It's a great classic that Babette presents at the Table des Bons Vivants: endives with ham and cauliflower béchamel. A comfort food, ready in less than an hour.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

4 large chicory

8 very thin slices of Paris ham

120 g grated Comté cheese

30 g semi-salted butter

1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon honey

1 drizzle of peanut oil

1/2 cauliflower

For the béchamel sauce

50 cl milk

40 g semi-salted butter

40 g flour

50 g grated Comté cheese

4 pinches grated nutmeg

Fine salt and freshly ground pepper

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With a paring knife, remove the core core from each endive, which is particularly bitter. In a sauté pan, with the butter and peanut oil, sweat the endives whole. Turn the endives over on each side and simmer, covered, over low heat for a very long time, so that the endives are tender.

Remove the lid from the sauté pan, drizzle the endives with lemon juice (to lessen the bitterness of the endives) and honey (to caramelize them), turning often. Open the chicory on the work surface to stuff them with grated Comté cheese and a thin slice of ham chiffonade. Roll everything up, wrap each endive in a slice of ham before placing them in a dish.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Cook the cauliflower for ten minutes and place it in the dish.

Prepare the béchamel: in a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour in the cold milk and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. As soon as the béchamel thickens, remove it from the heat, add the Comté cheese and stir briskly.

Pour the béchamel sauce over the Comté cheese and bake for about 20 minutes.