.jpg)
A few months ago I went to NYC with my boyfriend and we went to Estela – a Michelin star restaurant. It was honestly one of the best meals I’ve had in my life. We tried the endive salad because the head chef at the restaurant we work at here in Rochester said that it was incredible. When it first came out, I was like, uhhhh this looks like nothing basically. But it was AMAZING! We could not stop raving about it. There are quite a few websites that share the exact recipe from the Estela Cookbook. But we wanted to make a version that was similar but slightly our own. So I threw out a few ideas and then my *chef* boyfriend helped bring this Endive and Pear Salad to life!
The granola does end up looking a bit like ground beef which I’m sure is why Estela plates the endives on top. Ha! But don’t let the look of it deter you – it’s amazing! Just scoop the granola up onto the endives like tiny tacos and enjoy!
.jpg)
Ingredients for Endive and Pear Salad:
- sourdough
- walnut
- uncured pancetta
- pecorino
- syrah soaked toscana
- garlic
- anchovies
- red wine vinegar
- olive oil
- cracked black pepper
- pear
- endives
- orange
- aged sherry vinegar
See below for the recipe with step-by-step instructions also a few photos of some of the ingredients mid-process so you can see how they look!
.jpg)
- 2 cups sourdough bread, left out overnight
- 1 cup walnuts
- 4 oz uncured pancetta, small diced
- 1/3 cup pecorino cheese
- 1/3 cup syrah soaked toscana cheese
- 1 tsp olive oil
- black pepper
- crushed red pepper
- salt
- 3 garlic cloves
- 4 large anchovies (we used papa anzóis com limão e azeite)
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- cracked black pepper
- 3-4 endives
- 1 pear
- 1 orange
- 1 tbsp aged sherry vinegar
-
Preheat oven to 375°.
-
Cube bread into 1/2”-1” pieces and toss lightly in olive oil and salt.
-
Bake bread pieces at 375° for 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
-
Slightly crush up baked bread pieces. (We just used a cast iron pan and pushed down on them while they were still on the baking sheet but you could use a ziploc bag and a rolling pin or meat tenderizer to break them up a bit.)
-
Bake walnuts at 375° for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
-
Transfer nuts to mortar while still warm – add tsp olive oil, pinch of salt, pinch of black pepper and pinch of crushed red and crush into coarse chunks. (Work in batches if necessary. Photo below shows how coarse we made ours.)
-
Cook pancetta in small sauce pan over low heat until rendered and slightly crispy.
-
Drain fat and pat pancetta dry.
-
Roughly chop both cheeses into 1/4-1/2” pieces. (Photo shown below.)
-
Combine bread, nuts, pancetta, and cheeses and toss together until combined.
-
Grind garlic cloves into a paste in mortar.
-
Add anchovies and crush in mortar until it's chunky – you don't want it to be a pulp.
-
Combine garlic and anchovies with red wine vinegar, olive oil, and cracked black pepper to taste.
-
Chop end of endives and separate leaves.
-
Peel skin off pear and slice thinly.
-
Zest one orange. (Save a little for garnish if desired.)
-
Juice whole orange.
-
Toss endive leaves with orange zest, orange juice, aged sherry vinegar, and add salt to taste.
-
Toss granola in vinaigrette.
-
Plate with granola at base, top off with endives and pear slices, garnish with orange zest if desired. Enjoy immediately.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
