Endive Recipe

This is a great salad - very elegant and delicious! My hubby loves watercress. Adapted it from a recipe off the endive growers website:

http://www.endive.com/recipe/id39.htm

Endive and Beet Salad

Vinaigrette Ingredients
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 T vinegar (any kind will do, a sweeter one might be nice to compliment the bitter of the endive)
1 1/2 T olive oil

Mix the salt, pepper and vinegar in small bowl until salt dissolves. Slowly add the olive oil while whisking.

Salad Ingredients
1/8 cup English walnuts (can be halves or pieces)
4 small beets
2 heads endive
2 - 3 ounces watercress
1/2 apple, sliced
2 ounces cheese, crumbled (use a smelly one, like blue cheese)

Preheat toaster oven to 350 degrees F. Boil beets until fork tender. Cool, peel and quarter them. Bake walnuts until toasted, about 5 to 8 minutes. I use my toaster oven for this, that way I don't heat up the entire kitchen. Trim the base of the endive and separate the leaves.
Just before serving, toss the watercress with some of the vinaigrette. Divide the watercress between 2 plates, placing them in the center of each plate. Arrange the endive and the apple slices around the edge of the greens. Add beets to each salad and sprinkle with toasted walnuts and crumbled cheese. Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the endive leaves.