286906 Thu Feb 01 13:39:14 -0800 2001 18 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1540399 Need to come up with Belgian food to bring for a class project (of course, tomorrow). Other than waffles and chocolate, any suggestions that can be made by the home cook? I've suggested a bowl of mussels but don't think 10th grader's chow down. Endive salad?? Any ideas will be gratefully entertained. Merci! Thu Feb 01 13:39:14 -0800 2001 0 berkleybabe 1 1540400 three great recipe links for you (the first contains some recipes from Ruth Van Waerebeek, author of the classic cookbook, "Everybody Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook"...and I've provided a link to the amazon page to order this book at the bottom of this message) http://www.belgianexperts.com/signature.htm http://www.belgianexperts.com/recipesmain.htm http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/belgium/what.html Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1563054116/chowhoundcomA/ Thu Feb 01 13:47:01 -0800 2001 1540399 0 Jim Leff 2 1540403 Brilliant, Jim! The pack's resources are like having a think tank/reference team workin' for you--and so prompt! Consider a batch of Joy of Cooking chocolate chip cookies your virtual karmic payback. Thu Feb 01 14:02:30 -0800 2001 1540400 0 berkleybabe 3 1540405 Who can think when they're tanked?? In any event...we all help each other. That's what it's all about. Let us know how it goes, ok? Thu Feb 01 14:23:20 -0800 2001 1540403 0 Jim Leff 4 1540417 In the interest of time, ease of preparation and limited possibility of salmonella/botulism, etc. we (I) decided on small Belgian endive leaves served with a small dollop of boursin cheese in the "cup" part. Expect it to stand out from the piles of inevitable waffles. We'll see how the little darlin's chow on it! I'll ask for a 'hound report from son, AKA berkleybomber. Thu Feb 01 16:37:51 -0800 2001 1540405 0 berkleybabe 5 1540419 Sounds like terrific trasportable choice! And do you say, "Ahndeeve"? pat Thu Feb 01 16:46:57 -0800 2001 1540417 0 pat hammond 6 1540422 Hee-hee--I once went on a blind date with a fairly pretentious guy who took me to a rather splendid party at the Guggenheim museum--tons of food and drink laid on and a good band. I commented on how delicious some cheese stuffed en-dive was, whereupon he leaned over (he was about 6' 6" ) and whispered, "Actually, it's pronounced 'ahndeeve'." "Yes," I replied, "if you are a French person." He told the friend that had set us up that I was sarcastic. Guilty as charged. Thu Feb 01 17:13:54 -0800 2001 1540419 0 Martha Gehan 7 1540426 Martha & Pat, You're mind kinda gals (actually Martha I am a Martha, too! Not too many of us out there. Maybe I should do Marthababe, berkleyMartha, Marthaberkleybabe...nahhhh.) I actually go to the French pronunciation without exactly knowing why or how --at the veg market I asked for ahndeeve,maybe it's the high school French kicking in. Hope you didn't marry the 6'6" pile of pretension, MG! Any man who patronizingly whispers a grammatical correction to a literary woman should be dragged behind a horse-drawn carriage--or made to drive an Aztec for a month! Thu Feb 01 19:41:34 -0800 2001 1540422 0 berkleybabe 8 1540434 I hope you'll let us know what you brought - and what everybody else brought, and what the kids liked best.. Its fun to take food to school. My 6th graders loved the treacle fudge I brought awhile back (Harry Potter you know). Fri Feb 02 10:35:33 -0800 2001 1540426 0 Betty 9 1540445 We went with the Belgian endive. Had small, pale leaves (separated) with a dollop of boursin cheese in the "cup". The teacher noted what a creative choice it was--a welcome change from the usual pile of waffles. Son berkleybomber said almost every kid took a piece --and ate it --general comments were "tasty", "interesting. 10 points extra credit and an academic pat on the back for creativity. Mission completed. Fri Feb 02 18:27:03 -0800 2001 1540434 0 berkleybabe 10 1540453 Not to sound like a food/language snob, but... Endive is actually NOT pronounced ahndeeve in french...it's called "chicon." So when people call endive ahndeeve, they're just being pretentious. Sat Feb 03 09:26:42 -0800 2001 1540445 0 Helen 11 1540455 Nicolas Freeling, a Brit, points out in 'Cook Book' that what French-speaking Belgians call 'endives' (the long ivory heads with pale green overlapping tips) the brits call 'chicory', and that the British term for the curly, green, slightly bitter chicory is 'endive'. Elizabeth David says the curly green stuff is sometimes referred to as Batavian endive (in English) or 'endive frisee'. She refers to the long, pale stuff as 'Belgian' endive, and throws in the information that in Flemish it is called 'witloof' (which seems to me to translate, aptly, as 'white leaf'). Makes ones head spin, no? Is 'chicon', a term which I am ignorant of, a regionalism? And I have ordered and eaten in a French restaurant (in France, not the US) a 'gratin d'endives', which was the long, pale stuff wrapped in ham, masked with bechamel and finished under a broiler. I've also seen what I think of as endive (i.e. the long pale stuff) referred to as such in French on French menus in the U.S. Can anyone clarify? Sat Feb 03 17:32:06 -0800 2001 1540453 0 Martha Gehan 12 1540456 PS -I also meant to say that 'endive' is a word that, no matter what it refers to, IS pronounced 'ahndeeve' by French-speakers. Sat Feb 03 17:35:04 -0800 2001 1540455 0 Martha Gehan 13 1540457 And ahndeeve is listed as a correct pronunciation in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. They don't say anything about pretention (g). Endive with a hard 'i' is an Americanization of a French term. I have also never heard or seen the term chicon, but have seen both endive and endive belge used in French to rrefer to what we're talking about here, which is also sometimes called Belgian endive in the US (and was even more so before we started calling frisee frisee). BTW, the dictionary also says that endive is from the *bulb* of the chicory plant, and is grown under cover to keep it pale (like white asparagus). The root of the plant, dried and ground, is the chicory added to coffee in the southern US. Sat Feb 03 17:58:45 -0800 2001 1540456 0 Caitlin McGrath 10 1540469 Bravo - ten points! An extra Ten points can be really affirming - even the ones who don't need it. (a box of "Nerds" has similar power) My eight-year old nephew "discovered" boursin last year and loved it. I can't offer an opinion on how to pronounce endive. I pronounce it en-dive, but have been publicly "corrected", so who knows. I'm more interested in whether or not I can grow it in my climate. Mon Feb 05 10:17:53 -0800 2001 1540445 0 Betty 1 1540401 I'm pretty certain the Belgians invented the french fry! You could even, in a pinch, use the frozen variety that crisp in the oven. Serve some interesting dipping sauces. You'll be Mom of the Year! pat Thu Feb 01 13:49:41 -0800 2001 1540399 0 pat hammond 2 1540402 Fabulous!! You're a genius (also a gem of a hot-threader). Between the Spam engelee and this post, you're smokin', Pat! Thu Feb 01 13:58:44 -0800 2001 1540401 0 berkleybabe 3 1540404 Listen, I remember (breaking out in a cold sweat) the evening my 6th grader said she needed a Bouche de Noel for French class the next day! But believe me when I tell you that if you blink a few times that 10th grader will be all grown up. Enjoy! pat Thu Feb 01 14:08:40 -0800 2001 1540402 0 pat hammond 2 1540410 Gotta serve them with mayonnaise like they do in Belgium! Thu Feb 01 15:07:40 -0800 2001 1540401 0 Terrie H.