I was playing around with the concept of cured pork-stuffed roast cabbage, and that is kind of how this dish came about. I switched from cabbage to endive, which is more bitter and more dainty, and instead of doing prosciutto, I used mortadella, which is an Italian bologna. I love using mortadella because it is smoky and salty like your typical pork product, but also sweeter. It crisps up gorgeously, and since it has a ton of fat in it, that works with rounding out the bitter notes in the endive itself. While I built a majority of this recipe off of that concept, I still needed to add something else to the stuffed endive, just to round it out to a full dish. So I took my leftover mortadella, rendered out the fat from it, and used that to toast rice for a risotto! The risotto itself has tons of pecorino and the crispy mortadella folded through, just to tie it back with the endive itself. Since there wasn’t a big protein to cook for this dish, it is one of those recipes that is on the cheaper side, but with some fun techniques, you would never guess it!

Makes 2 servings:
For the stuffed endive:
1 head of endive
4 slices mortadella, halved
2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

With the endive, gently pull the leaves away and wrap the mortadella slices around each layer. Squeeze the endive back together and cut in half, lengthwise. Drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper onto the cut section of the endive. Sear the endive in a nonstick pan for 3 minutes on each side. Then place the endive into a 375 degree F oven for 15 minutes. Drizzle lemon juice over the roasted endive to finish.

For the mortadella risotto:
6 slices mortadella, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup short grain rice
1 shallot, peeled and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 tbsp cooking sake or white wine
a pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock, warmed and in 5 parts
1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream

In a large pan, render the mortadella with olive oil on low heat until the mortadella crisps up. Remove the mortadella, and start toasting the rice on medium heat for 2 minutes. Then remove the rice and start sweating the shallot and garlic in the pan on medium-low heat. Once the shallots are translucent, add the rice back in, then add in the cooking sake/wine and salt. Stir for 20 seconds, then add in the first part of your warmed vegetable stock. Stir the rice on medium heat constantly, as the liquid cooks down. Once the liquid is reduced by 3/4ths, add in another part of the stock while stirring the rice on medium heat. Repeat these steps until all of the stock is added in and reduced into the rice. Finish the risotto by stirring in the pecorino and cream.