Endive and Blue Cheese Salad

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 15 minutes

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Each of the major ingredients here can be swapped for something else, and the flavors of the salad can be varied in many ways (see “7 Ways to Vary Endive Salad,” below). I like to eat this salad with my fingers; endive leaves are perfect for that.

• ½ cup crumbled Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Cabrales, or domestic blue cheese
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 16–24 trimmed Belgian endive leaves (about 2 endives)
• 4 ounces enoki mushrooms, left whole
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley or chives for garnish

1. Put the blue cheese, olive oil, and vinegar in a small bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir with a fork until only small lumps remain. If you’ve got time, cover and chill the dressing for up to a day. Taste and adjust the seasoning and stir again before finishing the salad.
2. Spread the endive leaves face-up on a platter and lay a few mushrooms lengthwise on each one. Drizzle the dressing onto the mushrooms, being careful to keep it contained in the leaves if you want to pick them up with your fingers. Garnish with the parsley and serve right away.

7 Ways to Vary Endive Salad

1. For the enokis, substitute slivers of button mushrooms.
2. For the endive, substitute the small inner leaves of romaine or butter lettuce, or radicchio leaves.
3. For the blue cheese, use fresh goat cheese or grated Parmesan or other hard cheese.
4. Add 1 minced small garlic clove and a teaspoon or 2 honey to the oil and vinegar with the blue cheese.
5. Use walnut or hazelnut oil in the dressing and sprinkle the filled leaves with toasted walnuts or hazelnuts (see page 299).
6. Add a small pile of fresh grated radish to the top of each leaf before garnishing.
7. Use 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chervil or tarragon instead of the parsley for garnish.