Festive Endive Appetizers

Festive + light holiday appetizers that will leave you with room for dessert! Sesame tuna tartare + lemony white bean puree are delicious on endive leaves.

Endive Appetizers // loveandlemons.com

Endive… the perfect holiday party snack when it’s time to start laying off the bread already. As the holiday season comes to a close, I’m starting to crave foods that are lighter and brighter.

Endive // loveandlemons.com

I decided to make two of my favorite appetizers (that I love atop toasty crostini)… and serve in crispy endive leaves instead. The first is a super easy sesame tuna tartare. And because parties always need vegetarian options, the second is a lemony white bean puree.

But let’s face it, my favorite thing about skipping the bread is that I can endlessly snack away and still have room for dessert. Balance…

Special thanks to the California Endive Farms for the giant box of endive. (All opinions in this post are my own).


Festive Endive Appetizers

 
Author:
Ingredients
For the Lemony White Bean Puree:
  • 1 cup cooked white beans, drained and rinsed
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • Zest & juice of 1 lemon
  • Sea salt and fresh black pepper
  • A few pinches of red pepper flakes, for garnish
  • Chopped chives, for garnish
  • Endive, for serving
For the Sesame Tuna Tartare:
  • 6 oz piece of sushi-grade tuna, salted, seared & chopped into pieces (yield ½ cup)
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
  • ¼ cup chopped scallions
  • Sprinkling of sesame seeds, for garnish
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, for searing tuna
  • Endive, for serving
Instructions
  1. Make the Lemony White Bean Puree: Place the white beans, oil, garlic, lemon zest and juice, and a few pinches of salt and pepper in a food processor and process until smooth. Chill until ready to use. Taste & adjust seasonings.
  2. Scoop spoonfuls of the puree into endive leaves and garnish with the chives and red pepper flakes, or serve in a small bowl with endive leaves on the side for dipping.
  3. Make the Sesame Tuna Tartare: Sear the tuna (optional step). Heat oil in a small pan, and when it is hot, sear the tuna for about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side. You want no more than ⅛ inch on both sides to turn white.
  4. Let the tuna cool to room temperature and chop. Mix it with the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, mustard, and scallions. Chill for at least 20 minutes, or until you’re ready to serve. Taste and adjust seasonings.
  5. Scoop the tartare on endive leaves. Garnish with extra scallions and sesame seeds.


14 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it):  

  1. Elbert Bode
    04.19.2013

    One sure fire way to find appetizers that will get the job doneis to use copycat restaurant recipes. These recipes have beendeveloped by skilled chefs that mimic some of the best entrees,appetizers and desserts from America’s most popular restaurants.”

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  2. These are so pretty! I’ve done endive leaves with blue cheese and crushed walnuts but I’ll have to get this a try. Thanks for sharing!

  3. Sarah from thesugarhit.com
    12.30.2012

    Your photos make me just about weep with envy. What lighting set up do you use! SO JEALOUS.

    • jeanine
      01.03.2013

      thanks 🙂 It’s a pretty makeshift setup in our kitchen. 1 photo light, a diffuser, some white poster board… took lots of trial and error before we got it just right.

  4. Ashley from edibleperspective.com
    12.30.2012

    I just loaded a bunch of photos for a herb/lemon/garlic white bean cauliflower dip! 🙂 Love the endive idea!

    • jeanine
      01.03.2013

      ooh, white bean cauliflower dip sounds delicious, can’t wait for the recipe!

  5. Eileen from hampiesandwiches.blogspot.com
    12.29.2012

    Endive leaves sound like the perfect spoon for a bite of something delicious. 🙂

  6. rosemary
    12.29.2012

    This is an excellent website. I wad lucky coming across it and now I loom forward to checking it each day. Thanks

  7. Crista from peacelovequinoa.com
    12.29.2012

    these look amazing. like, absolutely amazing.

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.