Recipe: Belgian Endive Parcels with Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
Have you ever eaten at restaurant Raïnaraï in Amsterdam? If not: you definitely should. If you have: then you know that you would love to make this at home too. And you can, because owner Laurent Khellout has published a book full of delicious recipes.
Laurent: ‘In my restaurants and cookbooks, I serve people delicious dishes, but at the same time I also show, let them smell and taste the richness of vegetables and herbs. It is better not to store vegetables in the refrigerator, because their flavor disappears. Put them outside; that is what they are used to. There is always an abundance of fresh vegetables displayed on the terrace and on the pavement in front of my restaurants. It looks beautiful, but I also do it to wake people up. Think about what you eat. If you do that, my mission is accomplished.’
Preparation
- Place the Belgian endive in cold water for about an hour. Remove the stalks after soaking. Flatten the heads with your hands, unfold the Belgian endive heads and cut each one in half lengthwise once, so that you have four equal sections in total.
- Brush the yellow lion’s mane mushrooms clean. Finely chop the garlic, jalapeño pepper and chili pepper. Heat a splash of olive oil in a frying pan and briefly sauté the garlic and peppers together. Sprinkle the lion’s mane mushrooms with the ras el khellout and add them to the flavorings in the pan. Because of their dense texture, the lion’s mane mushrooms should be fried for about 15 minutes.
- Fill the unfolded Belgian endive heads with the fried lion’s mane mushrooms and roll the leaves up tightly. Because the Belgian endive has been soaked in water, the strips stick together well, creating beautiful parcels. Place the parcels in the pan in which the lion’s mane mushrooms were fried. Peel the red onions, cut them into large pieces and fry them together with the parcels for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Because of this preparation, in which the parcels are fried once more in the fat from the lion’s mane mushrooms, the flavor of the spices will penetrate the bitter taste of the Belgian endive even more.
- Meanwhile, bring 100 milliliters of water to a boil in a saucepan and simmer the blueberries over low heat until they form a chunky sauce.
- Place two parcels on each plate, pour some blueberry sauce over them and garnish with the fried red onions.
Title: Ras El Khellout
Author: Laurent Khellout
Price: €32.00
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers
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