A homemade recipe for a Belgian endive au gratin with goat cheese and Prosciutto ham. The soft chicory is rolled in a slice of salty Prosciutto ham and the goat cheese is bubbling and golden. The honey, orange, thyme, and walnuts make this casserole even better! And this casserole is also known as a chicory gratin, and this is a recipe to make everybody fall in love with chicory!
Do you like chicory? Most people I know aren't big fans. But I'm sure that when you prepare it like this chicory goat cheese casserole, they are convinced chicory lovers, for sure! The chicory is rolled in Prosciutto ham and topped with goat cheese, orange rind, honey, thyme, and walnuts. And that's stewed in orange juice. Now, who could say no to that! A delicious variant to the usual chicory, ham cheese casserole.
This recipe is adapted from the blog Domaine Malpas kookt (Dutch blog).
- Chicory: freshly vegetable. Many people don't like chicory (also called Belgium endive), because it's a bit bitter. But you can solve that quite easily. Cut the end of the chicory and half it. Now cut out the bitter core. And of course, you can eat chicory as a salad, but after eating this you know that a chicory oven casserole is so delicious!
- Prosciutto: a dried cured Italian ham, which is a bit salty. When baked in the oven it becomes crunchy. You can also substitute it with Parma ham, Coburger ham, or bacon.
- Goat cheese: use soft goat cheese, because you can easily crumble it and it melts well. If you don't like Goat cheese, you can also substitute it with Blue cheese or grated cheese like Gouda.
- Orange: in this recipe, the rind and juice of the orange are used. By stewing the chicory in the orange juice it becomes a bit sweet.
- Honey, thyme, and walnuts: adding additional flavors to the casserole The honey will caramelize when baked. And the walnuts become crunchy.
🔪 How to prepare a chicory goat cheese casserole?
Step 1 prepare the chicory. Wash the chicory and slice off the bottom. Half the chicory and take out the core.
Bring a pan with water to a boil and put the chicory in the water. Boil for 8 minutes and carefully take them out (so the half heads stay intact). Let them drain in a colander.
Step 2 grate and juice the orange. Clean the orange. Grate the rind. Then halve the orange and juice them. Put both aside.
Step 3 prepare chicory rolls. Lay a slice of Prosciutto in front of you and put half a chicory head on top. Roll the Prosciutto around the chicory. Put that into a casserole dish.
Step 4 prepare your chicory goat cheese casserole. Pour the orange juice with the chicory rolls. Sprinkle grated orange on top. Crumble the goat cheese on top of the Prosciutto. Then drizzle some honey on that. And spread the walnuts. Put the casserole in a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit / 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Then turn on the grill and let the casserole gratin for another 5 minutes.
- You can also remove the bitter core of the chicory by cutting off the butt and removing the core with an apple corer.
- Instead of boiling, you can also stew the chicory in butter for 10 minutes for a delicious creamy taste.
- The chicory doesn't necessarily have to be precooked. Then adjust your oven time to 25 minutes. And then turn on the grill.
- If you think the chicory is still bitter, add ¼ cup (50 ml) of milk to the water in which you boil the chicory.
- Instead of Prosciutto you can also choose Parma ham, Coburger ham or bacon.
- Goat cheese can be replaced by Blue cheese or a delicious grated cheese like Gouda.
Chicory casserole without cooking chicory
This chicory goat cheese casserole can be prepared without cooking the chicory in boiling water. The easiest way is to add 10 minutes extra oven time. But keep in mind that only the bottom part of the chicory is placed in the moisture, so the cooking of the chicory is not the same everywhere. If you don't mind this, that's the simplest solution.
You can also cut the bitter core from the chicory and finely chop it. Mix in the baking dish with strips of Prosciutto and pour the orange juice over it. Crumble the goat cheese, walnuts, orange rind, and thyme over the chicory and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- You can't store this chicory goat cheese casserole. Eat it right away.
- Do you have some chicory leftovers? You can store them for up to 8 days in the refrigerator. Use it in a salad mixed with raisins and orange parts.
- Or you can blanch your remaining chicory (cook it for 2 minutes in boiling water) and freeze it. That way you can store it for up to 2 days.
If you like this chicory goat cheese casserole then you might find these recipes a good choice!
Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!
📖 Recipe
VIDEO
RECIPE CARD
Equipment
- A conventional oven is used. When using a convection oven (with air fan) decrease the temperature with 30 °F / 20 °C
Ingredients
- 4 heads chicory
- 8 slices Prosciutto
- 100 grams goat cheese, soft
- 1 orange
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoons fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 30 grams walnuts
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can select which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit / 180 degrees Celsius.
- Wash the orange and grate the skin.
- Halve the orange and juice it.
- Slice the bottom of the chicory and half it. Cut the core out.
- Put a pan with a bit of water, approximately 2 inches (5 cm), on the stove and bring to the boil.
Chicory goat cheese casserole
- Put the halve chicory heads carefully in the boiling water and cook them for 8 minutes.
- Drain the chicory in a colander.
- Put a slice of Prosciutto in front of you and put half a chicory head on top. Roll the prosciutto around the chicory. Put in the oven dish.
- Repeat for all the Prosciutto slices.
- Pour the orange juice around the chicory.
- Sprinkle orange grind on top of the chicory.
- Crumble the goat cheese on top of the Prosciutto.
- Drizzle some honey on top and sprinkle the thyme.
- Top the casserole with the walnuts.
- Put the casserole in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Then turn on the grill and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Serve.
Notes
- You can also remove the bitter core of the chicory by cutting off the butt and removing the core with an apple corer.
- Instead of boiling, you can also stew the chicory in butter for 10 minutes for a delicious creamy taste.
- The chicory doesn't necessarily have to be precooked. Then adjust your oven time to 25 minutes. And then turn on the grill.
- If you think the chicory is still bitter, add ¼ cup (50 ml) of milk to the water in which you boil the chicory.
- Instead of Prosciutto, you can also choose Parma ham, Coburger ham, or bacon.
- Goat cheese can be replaced by Blue cheese or a delicious grated cheese like Gouda.
Nutrition
Brian says
Made this for dinner tonight
Excellent! Loved the flavors and will definitely make again
Andréa says
Thank you for your great comment!