Curly Endive Salad With Mustard Dressing, Egg and Gruyère

This wintry salad uses the pale center leaves of the curly endive — save the outer leaves for another use, like adding to a soup — but you could also combine them with Belgian endive and Chioggia, Treviso or speckled Castelfranco radicchio. As for the eggs, which add heft, cook them as you prefer, with a runny, gooey or moist yolk.

Ingredients

• 4

  large eggs, at room temperature

• Ice water

• 3

  tablespoons red wine vinegar

• 2

  teaspoons Dijon mustard

• 1

  small garlic clove, grated or mashed to a paste

• ¼

  cup extra-virgin olive oil

• Salt and black pepper

• 4

  large handfuls tender, pale curly endive (from the center of 2 medium heads), washed and dried

• About 2 ounces Gruyère

Preparation

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add eggs (the water should cover them), and return to a boil. Adjust heat so that the water is at a brisk simmer. For a runny yolk, cook for 7 minutes; for a gooey center, cook for 8 minutes; for a slightly moist center, cook for 9 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath.
2. Immediately drain eggs and plunge into ice water to cool. When cool, crack and peel eggs. (Eggs can be cooked and peeled up to several hours in advance, and refrigerated.) Roughly chop eggs into haphazard slices.
3. Put vinegar, mustard and garlic in a small bowl. Whisk with a fork to dissolve. Slowly whisk in olive oil to make a slightly thick dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Put endive in a low, wide salad bowl and sprinkle very lightly with salt. Add dressing to taste and toss well. Transfer greens to individual plates. Top with chopped egg. With a vegetable peeler, shave thin slices of Gruyère over each salad.