Endives are a great winter vegetable and can be eaten raw in salad or cooked, see this previous recipe from myfrenchtable for Endives au Gratin

They are really crunchy but can be slightly bitter so they work well with something sweet such as pears as I have used here but also lovely with avocado for example!

Ingredients:

• 4 endives
• 1 pear
• 50g emmenthal cheese
• Handful of walnuts
• Vinaigrette

Method :

1. Slice the endives lengthways, remove the base and chop
2. Peel and quarter the pear and then slice the quarters
3. Chop the cheese into small cubes
4. Place the chopped endive in a bowl and add your vinaigrette
5. Top with the sliced pear, cubed cheese ad a handful of walnuts

Ready!

Vinaigrette?

Everyone has their own preference regarding vinaigrette so the best thing to do is find one that you really like by trial and error. My basic vinaigrette is as follows :

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (red wine or balsamique usually)

3-4 tablespoons of oil – olive oil or rapeseed oil

A good dose of both salt and pepper

Taste and add more vinegar/oil/salt etc if necessary until you get the taste you are looking for . 🙂

Yet another loaf cake – my most used tin in the kitchen! Pears are in season at the moment, for this recipe just make sure they are nice and soft before using.

Ingredients :

• 3 pears
• 150g self-raising flour
• 80g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 90g butter (melted)
• 50 g dark chocolate

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Mix the flour, sugar, eggs and melted butter together
3. Peel and chop pears in small cubes
4. Break the chocolate into small pieces (or use ready made chocolate chips)
5. Add the pear and chocolate into the cake mixture and pour into loaf tin
6. Sprinkle some sliced almonds and chocolate on top of the cake
7. Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes at 180°C