When you eat endives, do you eat them with a salad? No? Well, you’re missing out. There are lots of ways to eat endives, honestly, but mixing it up with salads just about takes the cake (not an actual cake, of course). But it has to be done right, pure and simple. It takes more than just chopping up the endives and throwing them in some romaine. Let’s go for something a little more detailed and culinary, like art.

You First Start With Some Tofu “Chicken” Salad When You Eat Endives

We know, we know. It doesn’t have to be tofu. You could use literal chicken if you really want, but that would defeat the purpose of a salad, right? Right. Hence why tofu does just fine in this example, but don’t dwell on the whole tofu thing. Remember: this is just an example.

With the tofu, you need to cut a block of the extra-firm stuff, pressing and draining them into small cubes. Steam them for up to four minutes. Next you heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet for the purpose of cooking that tofu. You’ll see why this is crucial, because as much as we love salad, we’re thinking about complete meals here — we need the protein, period.

Cook the tofu until brown on all sides — then remove onto a plate for cooling. Let it sit. Now it’s time for the fun….

This is where you get the goods for the salad in play: two celery stalks, and two tablespoons of parsley, finely chopped. Get some vegan mayo (4 tablespoons), and a tablespoon of each of these ingredients: Dijon mustard, garlic powder, mustard powder, kosher salt. Throw in a half tablespoon of black pepper, and you’re set. You can also sprinkle in some chopped toasted almonds.

Now the salad sounds good and all, but where do the endives come in?? Makes no sense. Here’s the trick.

Add the tofu, mix, and then break off some endive leaves. You use the leaves to eat your salad!

Convenient, Savvy, Smart, Easy, and Actually Pretty Cool

Who knew you had a way to save on some dishes by using those endive leaves? And you can eat them, too. Just another reason why these Belgian endives are among the best veggies to eat (and use as utensils. Pretty fun.).