Hello Fall

Can you believe i took this with my phone?

I have been making this all summer when I can't stand to be in the kitchen longer than ten minutes.  Now that apples are more in season I'll let you in on my secret: cooked endive. I like to make this when I want to eat something good and don't want to have to stay in the kitchen while it cooks. 

The first time I had this, I think it knocked my socks off. I had never had a cooked endive and now I don't know what took me so long. Endives are incredibly bitter, but super sweet apples and grapes really make this gorgeous. That's all it is! Endives, apples, and grapes. You'll figure out a ratio of sweet to bitter that works for you. I like more grapes than apples with mine. 

Here's how it works: 

(from Dorie Greenspan's Around my French Table)

cut an endive in half like a hot dog

do the same with one apple, then quarter it. cut off a strip of skin from the backside; you just want to expose more of the apple to the pan to get a little more liquid out of it. You will only use 1/2 of the apple (see the picture)

rinse a handful or two of grapes.

Add two sprigs of rosemary if you have them. It will smell amazing, but I don't usually have it. 

Turn a pan on medium and melt a tablespoon of butter. Add everything to the pan and reduce the heat to low. Let cook for 30 minutes or until softened, turning halfway through. Seriously, that's it. I let this serve me  as one small meal. To serve more, use double the stuff. You'll figure it out, I promise.