Golden Braised Endive with Lemon and Thyme
Inspired by techniques from America's Test Kitchen and NYT Cooking.
Halved Belgian endives browned in butter with a little sugar, braised with water and thyme until tender, then glazed with the reduced juices, butter and lemon and finished with parsley.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Brown the endive. Melt 30 g butter in the pan over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, sprinkle the sugar and salt over the base and lay in the endive halves cut side down. Cook for about 5 min, shaking the pan now and then, until deep golden. Turn and brown the curved sides for about 3 min, then turn them cut side down again. The sugar helps the browning and balances the bitterness.
- 2
Braise. Add the water and thyme, turn the heat to low, cover tightly and simmer for 12-15 min, adding 2 tbsp more water if the pan dries out, until a knife slides into the root end with little resistance.
- 3
Make the glaze. Lift the endive onto a plate. Turn the heat to high and boil the juices for about 1 min until syrupy, then take the pan off the heat and whisk in the remaining 15 g butter and the lemon juice.
- 4
Serve. Return the endive to the pan and turn to coat in the glaze. Scatter with parsley and pepper and serve.
Storage
Best eaten fresh. Refrigerate covered up to 2 days and reheat gently in a covered pan until piping hot (74 °C). Cool leftovers in a shallow container and refrigerate within 2 hours (within 1 hour on a day above 32°C).
EU nutrition claims
- Low sugars: 1 g sugars per 100 g (limit ≤ 5 g)
- High fibre: 3.6 g fibre per 100 kcal (needs ≥ 3 g)
Per 100 g of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 86 g a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Free sugars
0.6 g per serving
1.2 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 2.4 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- 30 cm heavy frying pan with lid
- tongs
- paring knife
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 105 kcal |
| Protein | 1.7 g |
| Carbohydrate | 4.9 g |
| of which sugars | 0.9 g |
| of which free sugars | 0.6 g |
| Fat | 9.4 g |
| of which saturates | 5.8 g |
| Fibre | 3.8 g |
| Salt | 0.8 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
1.6 g High Protein needs ≥ 5 g (20% of energy)
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
