Endive Salad with Blue Cheese Foam

Ease of Preparation: Easy

Yield: 4-6 servings

Chef Siobhan Detkavich is cooking for… Aquarius! So… what does an Air Sign with a ruling planet of Uranus eat? At first glance, an endive salad may not seem out-there enough for an Aquarius. But then, you bring in a light, airy, salty, full-flavoured blue cheese foam shot out of a syphon and – wow! – all bets are off! This presentation is tailor-made for an air sign like Aquarius!

Ingredients:

Blue Cheese Foam:

• 1 cup (240 ml) sour cream
• 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
• ½ cup (120 ml) crumbled blue cheese
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper

Endive Salad:

• 4 heads of Belgian endive, sliced lengthwise, cut into ½-inch (1.25 cm) pieces
• 1 head curly endive (escarole), leaves only, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 2 heads Treviso, cored and sliced
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
• 1 lemon, juice
• Salt and pepper
• 2 Honeycrisp apples, cored, thinly sliced

Special Equipment:

• Whipped cream siphon & 2 cartridges nitrous oxide (N2O), apple coring cylinder

Method:

For the Blue Cheese Foam:

In a blender, combine sour cream, buttermilk, blue cheese, and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Puree until very smooth.

Pour the mixture into the siphon canister, charge twice (use 2 complete cartridges of N2O) and shake well.

Refrigerate the siphon until well chilled, minimum 30 minutes, before using.

For the Endive Salad:

In a bowl, combine the Belgian endive, curly endives, and Treviso. Dress with olive oil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, toss the apples with a spritz of lemon juice.

Shake the canister of blue cheese foam vigorously. Place 3 small mounds of blue cheese foam on each serving plate.

Arrange the endives into attractive piles between the mounds of blue cheese foam. Top with slices of apple.

Squeeze more lemon juice over the top, and crack black pepper over the salad.

Serve immediately.