CHICONs-JAMBON AU GRATIN (ENDIVE AND HAM ROULADE AU GRATIN)

Chicons-Jambon au Gratin (Endive and Ham Roulades au Gratin)
This is how my mother, Madeleine M. St. John, used to prepare Belgian endives (“chicons”). She would serve it to 8 as a little dish; to 4 as a larger dish. It's good with sides of bread and butter, pommes frites, other potato dishes, salad—you name it.

Photo by Kimberly Vardeman in Flickr

Ingredients
8 medium to large Belgian endives (none with brown tips)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons water (or chicken broth, beer or apple cider)
For the béchamel:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons wheat flour
1 and 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature
Pepper, salt and ground nutmeg
2 cups grated semi-firm “Alpine style” cheese such as Gruyère, Emmenthaler, Vacherin Fribourgeois, Cantal or Beaufort
8 slices thinly sliced, non-fatty, non-gristly sandwich ham (such as “Polish” or “deli”)
Unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions
Strip the endives of their outer leaves. Slice off a short bit of the root end, then cut about an inch lengthwise into the root end (this helps both to distribute the cooking heat and to alleviate the native bitterness of this, the thickest part of the endive).

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and water. Add the endives, shaking the skillet to distribute the butter over them, then cover and braise over medium to medium-low heat for 15 minutes. They should come out well-wilted & slightly golden-browned.

Drain the endives in a sieve or colander set over a bowl for 20-30 minutes, during which time the endives will cool down, a necessary step for later preparation. Save the drained cooking liquid in the bowl.

Make a béchamel: Over medium-low heat, melt the butter and, when the foam begins to subside, turn the heat to low and add the flour, stirring constantly with a whisk for about 2 minutes. In a slow stream, add the milk, stirring. Add 1/2 cup of the drained endive cooking liquid, stirring. The mixture will begin to thicken and, at this point, add grindings of pepper to taste (white peppercorns, if you have them), a generous pinch of salt and a pinch of ground nutmeg.

Stir or whisk in 1 cup of the grated cheese, letting the cheese melt into the sauce. Settle the sauce and put it aside, keeping it warm.

Prepare the final dish: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter a gratin dish that will accompany the 8 roulades of ham-wrapped endives. Assemble the endives by wrapping each in a slice of ham and setting them, seam side down, into the gratin dish side-by-side.

Pour the reserved béchamel-cheese sauce over the endives, using a knife or fork to shimmy a bit of the sauce between each roll. Place the gratin dish on a middle rack in the oven. After 10 minutes, remove and sprinkle the dish evenly with another 1 cup of grated cheese.

After a few minutes more, when the top layer of cheese browns (if you wish to pass it under a broiler at this point, that's fine), it's done. Remove from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes to come together, then serve.