belgian endive

At Via Carota, the charming West Village restaurant run by the partners Jody Williams and Rita Sodi, the menu description for insalata verde does little to give away any details about what makes it so unbelievably, mouth-smackingly perfect. A visual inspection of the dish reveals only leaves of endive, butter lettuce, frisée and watercress all piled as high as gravity will allow, topped by a drizzle of dressing studded generously with shallots and mustard seeds. In truth, all the secrets of this otherworldly salad lay in the graceful, unlikely application of a flavorless one: water. First, the five carefully chosen types of lettuce are all triple-washed to yield what Williams called “a super happy salad.” Next, the minced shallots are given a quick rinse under cold water — instead of a long maceration in vinegar — to keep them shalloty and savory and prevent them from becoming too acidic, which could overwhelm the delicate lettuces. And finally, and perhaps most surprising, Williams adds a spoonful of warm water to the vinaigrette. “We add warm water to make it more palatable,” she explained. “Pure vinegar is just too strong — it assaults the taste buds. We want a salad dressing so savory and delicious that you can eat spoonfuls of it. We want you to be able to drink it!” This might just become your go-to vinaigrette. Spoon it liberally over everything from boiled asparagus to farro salad to steak and fish and roast chicken. It’s so good that you might even be tempted to pour it into a glass and top it off with sparkling water.

Via Carota’s Insalata Verde

butter lettuce,

romaine heart

Belgian endive

watercress

head frisée

shallot,

water

olive oil

Dijon mustard

mustard

honey (optional)

thyme,

garlic,

Salt and black pepper

Wash the greens: Fill a sink or large basin with tepid water. Remove any wilted or damaged leaves from the butter lettuce, romaine and endive. Trim each head at the root to release whole leaves. Leave butter-lettuce leaves whole, but halve large leaves of romaine and endive on the bias, then drop into water. Trim and discard any roots and long stems off watercress, and drop remaining leaves and tender stems into water. Trim and discard dark green outer leaves and tops from frisée until only light green and white parts remain. Trim at the root to release leaves, and drop into water. Swirl greens in water, then drain. Wash twice more in cool, then cold, water, then transfer to a salad spinner to dry. Gently wrap in clean dish towels, and set aside.

Place the shallot in a fine-mesh strainer, and quickly rinse with cold water. Allow to drain, then place in a medium bowl, and add vinegar and warm water. Allow to sit for 2 minutes, then whisk in oil, mustards, honey (if using), thyme, garlic and a large pinch of salt. Taste, and adjust salt and vinegar as needed.

To serve, gently pile a generous handful of greens into a serving bowl, then sprinkle with salt, pepper and a generous drizzle of dressing. Continue with another handful of salad and more seasoning and dressing, repeating until you have a glorious, gravity-defying mound of salad. Top with a final drizzle of dressing, and serve immediately.

Wrap remaining greens in an airtight container or plastic bag and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Cover and refrigerate remaining dressing for up to 3 days.

For this elegant recipe, use seasonal leaves and vegetables. For Maggie, spring is the perfect time to take advantage of asparagus and green beans. In winter, she opts for seasonal winter leaves and Australian dried figs, making use of our South Australian delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards State Winners' produce from Ngeringa Produce, Singing Magpie Produce and Nomad Farms.

Cider-poached chicken salad with pine nut mayonnaise

apple cider

tsp black peppercorns

bay leaves, crushed

thyme

chicken breast

baby gem lettuce, leaves

head witlof (Belgian endive), leaves

(about 2 bunches) asparagus, trimmed, blanched, refreshed

green beans, trimmed, blanched, refreshed

mint leaves

parsley leaves

(80 grams) pine nuts, toasted, plus extra to serve

(125 milliliters) extra virgin olive oil

tbs verjuice

sorrel leaves (substitute flat-leaf parsley)

(125 milliliters) grapeseed oil

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Chicories, with their slightly bitter flavor, serve as a pleasant seasonal alternative to tender greens in this autumnal salad. Use a single kind — ruby-red radicchio, Belgian endive, curly endive (frisée) or escarole, or stick with one kind. All come together for a satisfying salad, whose bitterness is offset by the sweetness of pears and candied walnuts.

Radicchio Salad With Walnuts and Pears

salted butter

brown sugar

walnut halves

Salt

Ground cayenne

red wine vinegar

balsamic vinegar

lemon juice

walnut oil

head radicchio, leaves

chicory

firm, ripe pears, preferably Bartlett, Comice or D’Anjou

NYT Cooking

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Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

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Make the walnuts: Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and simmer until you have a dark caramel glaze, about 2 minutes.

Add walnuts and stir to coat well. Cook until fragrant and crisp, another minute or two. Dump walnuts onto a sheet of parchment. Let cool, then break apart any nuts that are stuck together. Sprinkle with salt and a good dash of cayenne to taste. Set aside.

While nuts cool, make dressing: Whisk together red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, walnut oil and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Make the salad: Put radicchio and Castelfranco in a salad bowl. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Peel the pears, if you wish, and slice ¼-inch thick. Add to bowl along with dressing and toss well to coat. Top with a handful of candied walnuts. Serve immediately.

Used candied pecans and clapp pears, because that's what we had. Agree that blue cheese would have been a nice addition.

The dressing was so off. Super watery and too acidic.

Did not have frisée that looked good so my wife added watercress instead and it was really good. Salad was not as bitter as anticipated .

Delicious. I used radicchio, endive, and spinach (couldn't find anything else). I added Blue cheese sprinkled on top after tossing. It was fantastic. I didn't have walnut oil, but it was fine without. I imagine the walnut oil would make it even better. IMO the nuts are essential for texture and a bit of sweetness.

We needed to use up 2 heads of different types of radicchio and pears from our CSA, so gave this a shot. It was absolutely fabulous! The juiciness of pears, the crunch and sweetness of the nuts, the tang from the dressing, all balanced out the crisp bitter greens to make a salad we all very much enjoyed! We'll absolutely make again! Would also be good with blue cheese, I'd imagine.

Big hit at a Winter Solstice party along with soup and bread!

Made this with castelfranco, added pomegranate and crumbled some Roquefort on top. Didn’t have any walnut oil, and didn’t miss it. Perfect!

Paired with the brussel sprout gnocchi and worked well! Added a tiny bit of honey to the dressing to ease the bitterness

Great salad, just added a little honey mustard to the dressing. 
Added blue cheese once, and pomegranate seeds the second time. Both were good

Remove walnuts and pears and use San Giacomo Agro di Mosto for the balsamic and it's a winner.

Use several types: red and green raddichio, a Belgian Endive or Two and a frisée endive.  I don’t use olive oil because it comes from far away.  I don’t use nuts or nut oils as there’s always someone who is allergic to those and I use gluten free products,   I use apples or pears, my grandson/she is a vegan,  so no to cheese or honey!.   Though I would love a blue cheese or a Paillot de Chèvre alongside on toast points!

- Kept the leaves to purple raddicchio and endives. 
- Added lemon zest.
- Reduced red wine vinegar, chose to use all the juice I got from a whole lemon. 
- Honey instead of sugar

Great addition alongside an anchovy  shallots pasta

My thoughts exactly, preferably something mild like dolce.

Add blue cheese because why is it not in this recipe? And then—perfection!

I used slivered almonds instead of walnuts (which I don't like) and fuyu persimmons,which are now in season, instead of pears. They both worked really well in this salad, and the red and orange color combo was beautiful. Definitely a keeper.

I love radicchio and was very excited to try this autumnal salad.
I used maple syrup instead of brown sugar with the walnuts and the taste was amazing!
The dressing was delightful, however, next time I might add a little Dijon to act as an emulsifier.

Um, not sure what this means? Use one kind or use a single kind?  "Chicories, with their slightly bitter flavor, serve as a pleasant seasonal alternative to tender greens in this autumnal salad. Use a single kind — ruby-red radicchio, Belgian endive, curly endive (frisée) or escarole, or stick with one kind."

@Robin Looks like it’s just an editing error. Use a variety of greens, or one kind.

@Robin If you look at the NYT image for the salad they are showing at least 3 kinds of chicories (the general name for bitter greens), dark purple Radicchio, some light green with pink fleck Castelfranco, and what appears to be Endive (I think). Escarole, Frisée, or Louisa would be great chicory options as well. I believe they are just encouraging folks to mix it up if you can find more than one variety. 

From personal experience, I would say the only one to avoid in a raw salad might be long shaped purple-red Treviso, which are extra bitter. They’re terrific cut in half length-wise and grilled, or cut it into small shreds and use sparingly in a raw salad.

Really delicious! I couldn’t find chicory so used watercress leaves instead and the result was just perfect.

@Robin

@Robin
I don’t understand either. I think it wants us to only use one kind (pick from those listed) but the instructions say add Radicchio AND Castelfranco.

I love chicories! But when using the more bitter varieties I prefer to soak them in an ice water bath for a bit to lessen the bitterness.

I have been nursing along a bed of radicchio that I started from seed and am looking forward to lovely salads like this!

@Robin. Mix up various kinds of fall greens- radicchio, endives etc.

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