Fun Monday ... Monday already huh?

This week's Fun Monday is hosted by Mariposa

This is the new assignment:
1) Please share to us how the NAME of your BLOG was made? I can't wait to hear interesting funny stories!

2) Please share to us (in words or photo, though a combination of both will be a bonus!) your favorite/ most common dish!

1.My blog name is Heaven in Belgium, because you know, obviously .... I live in Belgium!
And because I think blogging is creating a little piece of heaven right here on earth,
and on the internet. So there, Heaven is not my name unlike some of you might think.
It's just my little piece of paradise, a place where I meet new friends every day.

2.This is one of my favourite dishes, I have many more but I chose this one for a reason.
If they asked me to write a Belgian cookbook, this would be in it!

NL: witlof
EN: witloof chicory
NL: Brussels lof
EN: Brussels witloof
NL: andijvie
EN: French endive
NL: witloof
EN: Brussels chicory


I tried to find a translation for this very very "Belgian" vegetable,
and I think I'll stick to the Brussels chicory rather than the French endive!
If I have to choose a famous and typical Belgian dish this would be the one.
For several reasons, I will try to explain to you!
Not only do we not agree on the name of the vegetable,
( it gets claimed by the French as endive by the way!)
We in Belgium see endive as a kind of curly lettuce!
Not the same thing at all!
This is what it looks like straight from the supermarket.

Remove the bitter core at the bottom with a pointed knife.
Melt some good dairy butter and let those delicious white chunks
take a slightly golden colour on a gentle heat.
Put the lid on and let them soften, until tender.


Remove the lid, turn the heat up a little bit and let them caramelize very gently.
Let them cool down a little bit or you'll burn your fingers in a little while!

Make a Béchamel sauce and add some grated Gruyère cheese.
This too is typically Belgian behaviour.
Any other country would have it's own cheese to make the dish.
And it's not that we don't have any cheese ... we do, but us Belgians
are used to choose the best from neighbouring countries,
in this case it's Swiss Gruyère!

Wrap the chicory in some very tasty pork ham,
and arrange them side by side in an oven proof dish.

Poor the creamy sauce over them ...

.... and chase your hubbie out of the kitchen!!!
Or else all of the sauce is gone before the dish hits the oven!

When it's all bubbly and hot, the dish is ready to eat.