Braised Endives

• 4 large endives
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups leftover beef gravy (see recipe), or strong brown stock
• Juice of 1/2 lemon, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon basil, or to taste
• Pepper and salt to taste
• 1/2 cup of shelled walnuts, broken in pieces
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. Trim the endives, cut them in half lengthwise, and soak them briefly in cold water.
2. Drain.
3. Melt the butter in a saute pan, put the endives in, cut side down, and brown them.
4. Turn them over and brown the other side briefly.
5. Add 1 cup of the gravy, plus the lemon juice and basil, and simmer, uncovered, until the liquids almost disappear.
6. Add the remaining gravy and continue simmering until the sauce is reduced to about 1/2 cup.
7. Check the seasoning and add pepper and salt, if needed.
8. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, saute the walnut pieces in 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat until they are a delicate (not dark) brown.
9. Sprinkle the sauteed walnuts over the endives and serve.

endives, butter, leftover beef, lemon, basil, pepper, walnuts, butter

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/10289 (may not work)