Endive tarte Tatin

The bitter and sweet flavours are a perfect combination with the blue cheese, but you could also go the French route and use goat’s-milk cheese instead. Serves 6 (as a starter) or 4 (as a main course) Preparation time 25 minutes Cooking time 40 minutes

You need

• 4-6 endives • 50g butter • 3 tablespoons (45ml) honey • 2 teaspoons (30ml) fresh thyme leaves • 1 roll puff pastry, defrosted • 100g blue cheese • 50g walnuts, toasted and chopped

This is how

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Leave one endive head whole and quarter the rest. Heat the butter in an ovenproof pan (23cm in diameter) until it starts to bubble. Add the honey. Set the whole endive aside and arrange the quarters in a circle in the pan. Caramelise the quarters in the butter and honey until they start to change colour – keep the temperature medium-high to allow the endive to fry and the moisture to evaporate. Season with thyme leaves, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the pastry over the endive like a blanket and press in the corners, or cut them off. Place the pan in the oven to bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and puffy. Now cover the pan with a plate and turn it over quickly so that the pastry is at the bottom and the endive on top. Sprinkle immediately with the crumbled blue cheese and walnuts. Slice the whole endive into thin strips and serve with the tarte tatin.

Tarte Tatin is at its best hot from the oven. If you are making it for guests, you can do almost everything in advance. Simply place the cooked endive in the pan directly into the fridge, ready to cover with the pastry and bake just before you’d like to serve it. >