Witlof wrapped in cheese and ham...

Witlof-endive-chicory

A loved one has many names, as well as the dreaded horrors of childhood. Stop just there though, I promise that even though chicory traditionally means something horrid (stuff you tried to stuff deep into your napkin as a kid because it tasted bitter) that you are in for a treat. But this is a fantastic way to cook witlof, which is the Dutch name for it. A guaranteed bitter free experience. You really don’t expect me to dare to tempt you anything horrible, right?

One of the most fascinating aspects of traveling for me, due to me being a total food freak, is exploring new ways of cooking. This one is a recipe my dear Dutch boyfriend and his family taught me to make.

Witlof is served as a side dish in his family. Often served together with meat and potatoes. Yummy. All good, but I happen to think this is a totally brilliant meal on its own. With the right chosen cheese it is even a nutritious meal that can be shamelessly served to anyone on a diet! And it still tastes fantastic. I served this to my coworkers after having told them about my new favorite meal for about a week and a half... I even had to bring extra “non witlof” food because they were so damn skeptical and i hate serving food that others wont like. But that was just wrong – I should have brought more witlof! Anyway, this is how to make it, and don't be afraid because it is a vegetable... I usually hate veggies, and this is totally making me drool.

Witlof for 2 dinners and a lunch the day after or as a side dish for 4-5 people:

7-8 small endives (usually here in Sweden they come in handy 250 g packages with 3-4 pieces of endive. Take two packages! Otherwise i advice you to buy 3 big endives and just cut it up once its time to wrap them.)

Small cheese slices. You will need 2 slices per endivewrap (and 3 more to top).

3 slices of smoked ham per endivewrap

Dry breadcrumbs about 2 tablespoons (i only sprinkle some on top)

This is how you do it...

Rinse the endives. Take off the bad leaves (in the small ones there is usually almost never anything to trow away) and snip off the bottom of it. Inside there is a little root. You do not want that. That is where all the bitterness of the veggie is. Cut it out like a little cone, taking out as much as you can without breaking the endive into pieces. Also snip off the very top of the salads.
Put all of them in a pot of cold water and add a little salt. Boil them whole until they are completely soft. Should take about 10-15 minutes. Don’t worry about overcooking them; there is no such thing. Also don’t worry about potentially loose saladleafs. Just wrap them with the smallest witlof. Drain the witlof completely in a sieve and leave them alone to cool for a while.
Now the fun part starts!

For ease I pre slice all the cheese I need. And take out and separate the ham.

Turn the oven on to 225 degrees celcius (hot oven!).

I use a cutting board for this. But you can use any surface you would like.

Use two pieces of ham, overlapping them a little.

Add a cheese slice.

Put the endive on top (a whole one if it is small)

Another cheese slice on that

Roll it all together with another ham to make a roll.

Put the roll into an oven safe dish.

Repeat with the rest of the endives.

When the endives are all wrapped up and in the dish (just cozy them all together), sprinkle breadcrumbs over them and tear the remaining 2-3 slices of cheese up and spread evenly. Swoosh into the middle of the hot oven and bake them there for about 20-25 minutes until they are sporting a good crisp and color. Serve as they are, or together with potatoes and meat, preferably something chicken. Food heaven – Dutch style.

Swedish Pancakes

There is fast food, and there is fast food that is not so fast. In Sweden Thursday is traditionally Pea soup and Pancake Day, but in this household, we make pancakes when we don’t feel like cooking. It is that is always easy to make, It is inexpensive, I always have ingredients for them in the cupboard and best of all – it gives instant satisfaction and I make enough to give us something to snack on later that evening or the day after. The day after there might even be reason enough to have even more fun with them since I can make crêpes out of them... but that rarely happens. Cold, natural, thin pancakes are possibly the food of gods for me. I know my kiddo gets a certain look in his eyes that translated into sound would go something like: “mmMMMMMyummmy pancakes”, when he sees the stack of leftover pancakes i keep in the fridge. I guess it is hereditary. Pancakes are incredibly versatile, you can make them salty with bacon, you can toss some sliced or shredded apples and cinnamon into the dough, pour lemon juice and sugar on it (hey i just tried that after someone British recommended me that and i loved it, cheers!) just eat them as they are with jam, or sprinkled sugar, or ice cream, or... as the new family member taught us, cheese slices and syrup. I don’t even have to ask my kid anymore what he wants on his pancakes. Far before I have even managed to flip the first pancake he is dragging the Gouda-cheese out of the fridge and hunting for syrup. Oh well, it really does not matter what we decide to do or put on the pancakes. I only have one rule, and one rule only. There is no pancake mixes allowed. That is just cheating. A real Swedish mom makes pancakes from scratch. My mom would come back and laugh at me, if I made pancakes out of a mix. For those of you who do use mixes, please do continue. You prolly live abroad and have a complete different reference to what a pancake should taste and feel like. If you do them like me though, i promise you a nice, soft and a little crispy edged sometimes, delicious pancake.

Swedish Pancakes

The batter I use, makes about 12-15 thin plate sized pancakes, or one really big oven pancake.

2½ dl flour

6 dl milk (any kind will do)

½-1 teaspoon of salt

3 teaspoons of sugar (optional, but i always do it)

3 eggs

butter for the pan, i suppose i use about half a teaspoon per pancake.. So 25 grams should be more than enough. Don’t use oil or liquid butter, they wont brown the way you want it to. I had a big problem with that for the longest time. My pancakes just wouldn’t turn out as nice as my moms did. I just assumed she had some trick I had missed out on, until I ran out of the healthier versions i fry stuff in, and ended up using regular margarine. Ha, I ain't never going back. It isn’t like pancakes are jam packed with fibres either, so I will gladly take a loss on the diet on pancake day.

Ahem.. this is what I do. Take the flour, salt and sugar; mix it with HALF of the milk (3 deciliters for those of us too tired to count). Mix it well until it is smooth and creamy. Don’t grab one of those electrical mixes for this; it’s not hard work. Then you leave it be for at least 10 minutes. You can leave it for hours if you feel like, I usually take a moment to wash up the mornings dishes, check the mail or chase kiddo around the house to make sure he isn’t bouncing off the walls for a little bit. Then I return to my batter, crack the eggs into it. I suppose your supposed to do it one by one and stir it well, but i just whack them all in at once and then stir vigorously. After that i mix in the rest of the milk. Now the batter is going be quite loose, but if you have used the amounts i have told you, do not feel alarmed. It’s supposed to be like that. Now I take a moment to prepare for making the pancakes. Start with taking out 2 plates (one for stacking pancakes on) and one for the pancake you make “extra”, like with cheese on. Or if you have kids, “the panic plate” for impatient family members.

I make my batter in a Tupperware mixing bowl with a little pipe on the side, something very handy for this. I can just pour the batter in (and i keep a piece of paper underneath the bowl for minor spills), but for reference, it’s about ¾ of a deciliter of batter for a pancake.

Turn the stove on max, add butter into a Teflon-pan (or a sturdy iron pan whatever you prefer) and as it melts and “quiets down” and feels hot in the air above it, you add some batter. Don't mind measuring up for a full pancake here, because the first one always suck. It doesn't get enough heat. But fry it on one side for about a minute, check if it has enough color and flip it over, fry for another minute. Remove to plate; try it if it tastes good. If it doesn't, then I think you should add a little more sugar and salt. Otherwise just shrug it off and use extras afterwards that will make you ignore if the batter is boring. (But it isn’t!!!!). I think Nigella said something about the first being gobbled up as a food offering to the goddess of the kitchen or something like that. I kind of like that idea.

Fry them all up, medium to high heat. If the butter is oozing too much when you put it into the pan, then lower the heat and wait a little, or you just burn the pancake. You will soon get the feel for how long it takes. These are thin pancakes though, so more than 2 minutes per side I doubt is necessary. They should have a good measure of color on them, pale means slightly undercooked. Still good, but will feel a bit doughy on your belly.

To make Dutch cheese pancakes with syrup, you fry the pancake, and as you have turned it over in the pan, add 3-4 slices of cheese to it. Once the cheese has melted completely, the pancake is done. Remove to plate, drizzle light syrup on top and roll it together (i fold it with a fork) and cut it up. Serve and enjoy.

OK, simple enough, right? It is so easy even my dad can do it. I taught him, because I got tired of being available every Thursday evening to make pancakes for 1 father and 2 brothers who has been spoiled rotten by my mother – the queen of pancakes. And their kitchen just sucks, with the oven slightly tilted. Pancakes do not turn out pretty on a tilted stove. Just so you know. Now I feel I have grown into some of her shoes when it comes to the pancake business... but that is just because no one has seen me when the pancakes break as i turn them, or the one time i tried flipping them in the air. I will wear that pancake crown even if i have to duct tape it to my head.

To make pancake dinner even easier, when i absolutely cant stand cooking at all, I make oven-pancake. For that I use the exact same batter, but i heat the oven up to 225 degrees Celsius. Take a big, deep pan (same size as a standard oven) and butter it. Pour the batter in, bake it in the middle of the oven for about 20-25 minutes. It will poof up here and there, but that's perfect. When it is done immediately sprinkle, the top of the pancake, with ordinary sugar if you want a sweet pancake.

If you wanted a savoury salty pancake, you should have added bacon or something as the oven was heating up (then the pan would of course be in the oven during that process) and then added the batter.

Serves 3 big eaters, or two kiddie portions and one Dutchman.