Whitefish with Endive

I got this idea from a recipe in a book I like called Simple Cooking. If you look for it, try to get an edition with nice, big pictures. They were in the one got from the library, but not the one I got from Amazon.  It uses the idea of vegetable juices and purees in many of the recipes. The first four chapters are "Building Blocks": Juices, Vinaigrettes, Flavored Oils, and Vegetable Broths.

The recipe I was loosely following was "Whiting with Endive Broth". The dish consists of fish (whitefish in the book, cod here) with endive puree and juice. The tartness of the endive goes well with the delicate flavor of the fish.

The endive is chopped up and sauteed in olive oil until soft (save a few leaves), and then simmered in white wine, with some salt, pepper, and sugar.

The juice is drained off, and the endive is pureed with a few tablespoons of the juice to help it blend better.

All that's left is to saute the fish, and serve on a plate. I put the pieces of fish on a mound of the puree, and added some of the juice to the plate. I toasted the reserved endive leaves on a pan for few minutes, and placed them on top of the fish. I hadn't planned ahead to make something to soak up the juices, so I just used bread.