Figure 1 Image Source: Common Chicory with Flower

Chicory, also called Belgian endive or witlof, is usually grown indoors or underground in order to limit the amount of direct sunlight that reaches the plant. The reason for this is that the greener the chicory leaves are the bitterer tasting they are.

While chicory can be eaten cooked or raw the cooked option is the more popular of the two. Chicory root has also been long used in the manufacture of beverages used as coffee substitutes.

Ingredients:

• 500 Grams of Chicory Heads (about 3 heads all up)
• 200 Grams (about 7 Ounces) of Grated Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 Tomato
• 1 Onion
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• ¼ to ½ Cup of Bread Crumbs
• 3 Tablespoons of Sugar
• Freshly Ground Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste
• 2 Pinches each of Paprika and Dill Tips

Note: You will probably need to readjust the amount of Mozzarella depending upon your baking dish. Long wide baking dishes will require more cheese than would a short narrow baking dish. The same holds true for the bread crumbs and sugar

Method:

1. Oven and Oven Pan (Casserole Dish) – Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (around 360 degrees F) and lightly grease your baking pan/casserole dish. You could also use a non-stick cooking spray.
2. Garlic – Peel and mince the garlic (a garlic press is a great time saver here)
3. Onion – Peel and cut onion into thin rings then finely dice ¾ of the onion rings. Keep both lots of onion separate.
4. Tomato – Wash, core and slice the tomato into thin rings

Figure 2 Image Source: Common Chicory

1. Chicory – Cut the chicory head in ½ lengthwise. You should now be able to see the solid core at the heart of the chicory head. Now cut each of the chicory head halves in ½ lengthwise. This should leave you with four lengthwise quarters. We will now remove the chicory head’s entire inner solid core as it tends to be very bitter and we don’t want our cheesy chicory bake to be bitter whatsoever. This should leave you with individual leaves. Give the chicory a quick rinse with water.
2. Load Baking Dish – We are going to be loading the ingredients into the lightly greased baking dish in layers as follows:

• Lay a single layer of chicory leaves over the bottom of your baking dish and then lightly sprinkle with sugar and a little of your finely diced onion. Repeat this process until you have used approximately ½ of the chicory leaves.
• Now sprinkle about ¼ of your grated Mozzarella cheese evenly over the last chicory leaf/sugar layer. Then place around ½ of the sliced tomato on top of the cheese. Also sprinkle about ½ of the garlic, freshly ground sea salt and black pepper to taste.
• Continue adding layers of chicory leaves sprinkled with sugar and a little of the finely diced onion until all of the chicory leaves have been used. Add the remainder of the diced onion and minced garlic on top of this final chicory/sugar layer.
• Finish by spreading the remaining grated Mozzarella cheese evenly over the top of your chicory bake. Place the rest of the tomato slices and the onion rings on top of the final Mozzarella layer. Sprinkle the bread crumbs and a couple of pinches of both the paprika and the dill tips over the top of everything.

1. Bake – Place the prepared cheesy chicory bake into your preheated oven and bake at 180 degrees C (around 360 degrees F) until the top looks nice and crispy (around 25 minutes).

Serving:

It’s the bread crumbs that give this cheesy baked chicory dish a wonderful crunchy texture. They contribute to the formation of a juicy crust over the entire bake surface.

You may also wish to garnish this is dish with a little parsley immediately prior to serving.

Variation – Use a couple of layers of sliced ham, chicken etc. in between the chicory and cheese layers.

Anyway do enjoy!!!!!