This appetizer features endive cups stuffed with a mixture of chopped dates, toasted pecans, and blue cheese, then drizzled with balsamic syrup. Delicious and elegant!
The Paris markets in winter are filled with beautiful heads of endive, both the traditional white/yellow ones and the purplish ones. I love to slice and throw the large heads into a winter salad with arugula and radicchio.
The smaller ones, though, make perfect delivery vehicles for all sorts of savory bites—no fork or knife required. You can always use them as scoops for your favorite dip, but I really recommend you try this bite-sized endive appetizer stuffed with blue cheese and pecans.
Why Make This Dish
- This dish calls for only 5 ingredients and a minimal amount of time to put together, but the combination of flavors is truly delicious. Endive, toasted pecans, chopped sweet dates, and salty crumbled blue cheese together create a salty-sweet balance of flavor. Top it off with a syrupy balsamic vinegar reduction, and you have a healthy appetizer that is still completely crave-worthy.
- Perfect as a vegetarian option. Appetizer spreads can be heavy on the meats, and it's nice to offer a lighter, vegetarian option that's sure to please everyone.
- So elegant! This dish looks so sophisticated, despite how easy it is to make. Perfect to offer with a glass of wine or champagne to start off a meal. Perhaps paired with this Cranberry Mimosa?
🥗 Ingredients
- Pecans: I love the toasted, chopped pecans in this dish, but you could also replace with walnuts or even almonds.
- Blue Cheese: With only a few ingredients in this appetizer, the quality of each really comes through. So buy a delicious blue cheese: Roquefort or Gorgonzola are perfect. Don't buy a cheese that is pre-crumbled. The pre-crumbled varieties are almost always dried out, and you want a creamy cheese in this recipe to complement the crunchy pecans and endive.
- Dates: Prunes would make a good substitute here, or even dried apricots.
- Balsamic Vinegar: If you want to save some time, you can buy a pre-made reduction. Here in France, I’ve found a sweet balsamic vinegar reduction called Velours de Vinaigre Balsamique, that is worth seeking out if you can find it. If you buy a bottle, you can also use it to make a thick and creamy balsamic vinaigrette—it’s a little sweeter than my traditional vinaigrettes, but delicious paired with salads with a lot of acidic ingredients. Adding dijon mustard to your dressing will also cut some of the sweetness.
🥣 Instructions
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil and add ½ cup of pecans. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until fragrant and toasted.
Let cool, then chop into small pieces. Meanwhile, pour ½ cup of balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer for 8-10 minutes, until vinegar has reduced and thickened. You should be left with about 3 tablespoons total.
Peel off any bruised leaves on 3 small Belgian endive heads, then rinse. Cut off the bottom of each head, peel leaves off, and place on a paper towel to dry.
Prepare 8 pitted dates by chopping into small pieces. Crumble 3 ounces of blue cheese into a small bowl.
Now it’s time to assemble. Lay your endive cups onto your serving platter and sprinkle in a little of each of the main ingredients: chopped pecans, chopped dates, and crumbled blue cheese. No need to measure anything, just eyeball that you have roughly the same amount of each.
Drizzle with balsamic vinegar reduction, and serve.
🧐 Recipe FAQs
This appetizer is not great for make-ahead, though you can take care of some of the time-consuming steps in advance. Toast and chop the pecans a day or two before and keep in an airtight container.
Chop the dates and crumble the cheese—keep those in the fridge after prepping. You can also make the balsamic syrup in advance—however, it will thicken up after it cools. You may need to reheat briefly in the microwave when you’re ready to drizzle it on your endive cups.
Endive itself is tricky though, and the delicate edges can brown fairly quickly and become soft. If you are just looking to prep the endive an hour or so before serving, you can rinse your endive and peel off the individual leaves. To keep them fresh, wrap the leaves in a damp paper towel and put in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use.
The word endive actually refers to the leafy part of several members of the chicory family, including escarole and frisée. That can lead to some confusion with the name endive, and that’s the reason I’ve specified “Belgian endive” for this recipe.
Like other chicory plants, the Belgian endive has a slight bitter flavor, which provides balance to the sweet and tangy flavors in this recipe.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
One option for saving time with this recipe is to combine a few tablespoons of regular balsamic vinegar with a tablespoon of honey to thicken and sweeten it up rather than reducing it. Or use pomegranate molasses instead of a balsamic vinegar reduction for a different take on this recipe.
Here's a tip to help with pulling off perfect endive leaves. As you make your way peeling leaves from the outside to the inside, continue to cut off the bottom of the endive a couple of times as you go so that the leaves continue to come off easily.
This endive appetizer is a perfect starting point for a three-course meal. Serve this starter before bringing out a showstopper of a main course, like this Salmon Wellington or Antipasto Stromboli. Or maybe you'd prefer this Spicy Scallop Scampi?
And how about dessert? If you have stocked up on pecans, you may want to try this decadent Turtle Pie. Or, may I suggest this Easy Lemon Ricotta Cake or this Almond Flour Chocolate Cake topped with fresh raspberries?
For more ideas about creating a unique holiday menu, check out my post on Non Traditional Holiday Dinner Recipes You'll Love or try pairing these with some ideas from my Popular French Appetizers recipe roundup.
Other Uses for Belgian Endive
Endive is delicious in a winter salad, paired with other greens like arugula, spinach, or radicchio, and also by itself—try this Endive Salad with Pears. Endive leaves are a great replacement for higher carb foods like crackers or potato chips if you’re looking to serve a dip with a low-carb delivery mechanism.
And, endive can also be grilled, baked, or braised, and is particularly delicious as a side for seafood.
Looking for other delicious appetizer recipes?
For another elegant offering, I love this Warm Crab Dip. And how about trying one of these favorite appetizer recipes too?
If you try this recipe, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below—I read them all, and your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Blue Cheese and Pecan Endive Appetizer
Ingredients
- 3 small heads Belgian endive (about 160g)
- ½ cup pecans (2oz/60g)
- 8 dates pitted (2.5oz/75g)
- 3 ounces Roquefort or other blue cheese (90g)
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar (118ml)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil and add the pecans. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until fragrant and toasted.
- Let cool, then chop into small pieces.
- Meanwhile, pour balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer for 8-10 minutes, until vinegar has reduced and thickened. You should have about 3 tablespoons left. Let cool until ready to use.
- Peel off any bruised leaves on your endive, then rinse.
- Cut off bottom of each endive, then peel each leaf off and place on a paper towel to dry. As you make your way peeling leaves from the outside to the inside, you may want to cut off the bottom of the endive as you go so that the leaves continue to come off easily.
- Prepare your dates by chopping into small pieces.
- Crumble your blue cheese into small chunks.
- Now it’s time to assemble. Lay your endive cups onto your serving platter and sprinkle a little of each of the main ingredients: chopped pecans, chopped dates, and crumbled blue cheese. No need to measure anything, just eyeball that you have roughly the same amount of each.
- Drizzle with balsamic vinegar reduction and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Fitoru says
Wow, I will definitely enjoy this thank you very much for sharing.
Chef Molly says
My pleasure! I love this appetizer, and I hope you will too! Thanks for commenting!
fitoru.com says
Important points in this post about this blue cheese and pecan endive appetizer for a healthier lifestyle. This would be a huge help. Thanks for sharing this great article.
Chef Molly says
Glad you enjoyed it! Healthy (ish) and yummy--my favorite combo!