Endive with Gorgonzola, Pear, and Walnut

Use Gorgonzola dolce (sweet) rather than piccante (aged/sharp) for creamier texture. Ripe but firm pears hold up better. The honey ties all the flavors together.

Two of this dish's three starring ingredients have fascinatingly specific origin stories. Belgian endive was accidentally discovered around 1830 when a Belgian chicory farmer named Jan Lammers stored chicory roots in his cellar, intending to dry and roast them as a coffee substitute. Lammers then left for several months to serve in the Belgian War of Independence, and on his return found the roots had sprouted compact, tender, slightly bitter white leaves in the dark, cool conditions. A Belgian botanist named Brézier later refined the growing process — the labour-intensive technique of forcing a second growth from chicory roots in total darkness, which keeps the leaves pale and mild — and Brussels market stalls began displaying the vegetable in 1846. It was introduced in Paris in 1872 and quickly became fashionable, earning it the nickname "white gold" in Belgium. By the 1970s, endive was the most widely grown vegetable in Belgium, accounting for roughly a quarter of all vegetables produced in the country. In 2021, Brussels added it to the region's Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Gorgonzola is even older. The official Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola confirms that first written reference to the cheese appears in 879 AD, making it one of the world's oldest documented blue cheeses. Named after the Lombard town of Gorgonzola near Milan, it received European Union Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status in 1996, restricting production to Piedmont and Lombardy. The pairing of sharp blue cheese with sweet fruit and toasted nuts is a flavour principle that runs through both French and Italian cuisine, and the hollow endive leaf — nature's ready-made canapé dish — became a popular American party appetiser format when French cooking came into fashion in the 1970s and 1980s.