Endive Salad with Orange and Walnuts

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This Endive Salad with Orange and Walnuts is tossed in an orange vinaigrette and tossed with Pecorino-Romano, toasted walnuts and fresh orange segments. This salad is inspired by the famous endive salad at Estela restaurant in New York.

Endive Salad with plates

What is Endive?

Belgian Endive is a part of the chicory family, which also includes other lettuces such as radicchio, escarole, frisee and curly endive. It has a root at one end and you can pull the leaves away from the root. The leaves have a delicious crisp texture that are refreshing with a teeny-tiny bitter flavor.

Ingredients for Endive Salad

How Do You Pronounce Endive?

Listen, I’m not a pronunciation gatekeeper. I truly think you should pronounce it how you like. But since you asked (you didn’t), I’ll tell you that I pronounce it like “ON-DEEV”. Others pronounce it “EN-DIVE”. I believe that “on-deev” refers to this Belgian Endive and “en-dive” refers to the curly endive.

Endive Salad Ingredients

How To Make This Endive Salad with Orange and Walnuts

  1. Toast the walnuts. I love toasting these walnuts in olive oil, a few pinches of salt, black pepper and a pinch of crushed red pepper. As a result, you’ll have delicious, fragrant walnuts. Set them aside to cool.
  2. Make a garlic and anchovy paste. I like to mince up the garlic and smash it into a paste. The anchovy gets in there too. This ends up being a broken-like dressing.
  3. Add the anchovy/garlic paste to a large bowl, along with the olive oil, orange juice, lemon juice and a few rounds of black pepper.
  4. Next, whisk the dressing until it’s smooth. Give it a taste and adjust the salt to your liking.
  5. Add the endive leaves and toss them in the dressing. Next, add the shredded cheese, walnuts and toss one last time.
  6. Plate the salad and arrange the orange segments on top and add some additional cheese.
Anchovy garlic paste on cutting board
Dressing in a bowl - overhead

Inspired by Estela Restaurant

If you’ve ever been to Estela Restaurant in New York, you might’ve had their famous Endive Salad. It has crushed and toasted walnuts, with cubes of cheese, croutons at the bottom of the plate. They call it the granola. The endive salad that’s tossed in an orange vinagrette is placed on top. It’s on of the most beautiful and delicious salads I’ve ever had.

This salad is inspired by Estela’s salad. Minus the cheese and croutons and a few other steps). Over the years, I’ve made abbreviated versions of the Estela salad and I love this version, too.

Endive leaves in salad spinner
Endive Salad overhead on oval plate

Tips and Tricks

  • This salad dressing can be made up to two days ahead. As a result, it makes it a super easy salad to throw together.
  • If you want to add croutons, you can do that. I would toast them in the oven with some olive oil and salt and pepper.
  • Endive is usually in season from September through May. I found purple and yellow endive.
  • If you want to use other forms of chicory for this salad, do it!
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5 from 2 votes

Endive Salad with Orange and Walnuts

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 5 minutes
Total: 15 minutes
Servings: 2
This Endive Salad is tossed in an orange vinaigrette and tossed with Pecorino-Romano, toasted walnuts and fresh orange segments. This salad is inspired by the famous endive salad at Estela restaurant in New York.

Ingredients 

Walnuts:

  • 1 cup walnuts, (roughly chopped)
  • 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt + black pepper
  • Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Dressing:

  • 2 clove of garlic, (peeled)
  • 2 anchovy fillets
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • Juice from 1/2 naval orange
  • Juice from 1/2 lemon
  • Kosher salt + black pepper

Salad:

  • 4 endives, (ends trimmed, leaves separated and washed and dried)
  • 2 ounces Pecorino-Romano, (shaved or grated)
  • 1/2 naval orange, (segmented)

Instructions 

To Toast the Walnuts:

  • In a skillet, set over medium heat, add the olive oil, walnuts and add a few pinches of kosher salt, a couple rounds of freshly ground pepper and a pinch of crushed red pepper. Toss until fragrant and toasted, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

To Make the Dressing:

  • On a cutting board, mince up the garlic cloves and begin to mash it with the back of your knife. Add the anchovy fillets and mince those up and using the back of your knife, make a paste with the two of them together. Scoop them up off the cutting board and place them in a large bowl. Pour in the olive oil, juice from 1/2 orange and juice from 1/2 lemon. Add a few pinches of kosher salt and some black pepper. Whisk it until smooth. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.

To Assemble the Salad:

  • Add the endive leaves to the bowl and toss with the dressing. Give one a taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Add the cheese, toasted walnuts and toss once more.
  • Transfer to a serving plate. Arrange more cheese on top and some more black pepper.

Notes

Tips and Tricks

  • This salad dressing can be made up to two days ahead. The salad uses 1/2 naval orange for the dressing and then the segments from the other half are used on top of the salad.
  • If you want to add croutons, you can do that. I would toast them in the oven with some olive oil and salt and pepper.
  • Endive is usually in season from September through May. I found purple and yellow endive.
  • If you want to use other forms of chicory for this salad, I bet it would be delicious.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 250kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 20g | Fat: 77g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 348mg | Potassium: 522mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 162IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 385mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Appetizer, Salad
Cuisine: American
Like this Recipe? Please Rate & comment below!

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Hi! I'm Adrianna and this is my cozy space on the internet that is super-charged by butter, flour and copious amounts of pasta. Stay awhile, will you!

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36 Comments

  1. This salad looks so delicious, and it’s a great way to add Vitamin C to our diet this winter. I pinned it to make later this week!

  2. I made this for a few friends the other night. It was soooo delicious. Everyone raved about it. The bechamel was so good. I added goat cheese as well. I would totally use this over pasta as a mac and cheese.

  3. You also can wrap the endive in a slice of ham with the bechamel sauce over it. This is a typical Belgian recepie and is very delicious. Btw, the original name of endive is ‘witloof’ or Brussels chicory because its bitterness.

  4. Ha, such a goof and I love it. This is ridiculous, I don’t even understand how you came up with it. Looks fantastic though!

    xx

  5. Gorgeous dish. I’ve never actually had endives yet but this seems like a great way to give it a try! 🙂

  6. I happen to love endives and I don’t mind their slight bitterness. I always eat them raw, I have to try cooking them! Thanks for the idea!

      1. Haha. I thought it was “end dive”. Probably stick with that…ahn deeve sounds too fancy for me!

      2. HA! Yes, it’s a fancy pronunciation. Honestly, I learned this like two weeks ago. Before I said “end-dive” ALL day.

  7. Since your tease photo I’m expecting this awesomeness to be posted! (super nail polish indeed!) 😀