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Have you ever cooked with radicchio?
Until recently I have only had it in salads. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with it, radicchio looks like a small head of red cabbage; you can usually find it in the produce section of your grocery store.
It’s actually not a cabbage, but a chicory, and it has a just slightly bitter, crisp taste.
Raw chopped radicchio you often find in those bagged salad mixes. But here’s the cool thing, radicchio is outstanding grilled. Something about the grilling on high heat transforms the bitterness and turns it even a little nutty. I didn’t believe it until I tried it. So good!
Quarter the radicchio heads, coat them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, grill them until lightly charred all over.
Chop them into salad sized pieces, toss them with dressing, and sprinkle on a little grated Parmesan or Pecorino and you’re there.
Do you have a favorite way of preparing radicchio? Please let us know about it in the comments.
Grilled Radicchio Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 heads of radicchio, quartered, so that each quarter has a bit of the stem end holding it together
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more to coat radicchio
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 chopped garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard
- Salt and black pepper
- Pecorino or parmesan cheese for garnish
Method
1 Make the dressing: Put the salt, garlic, mustard and balsamic vinegar into a food processor or blender and pulse to combine. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil slowly until the dressing comes together.
2 Prepare your grill for high, direct heat.
3 Coat quartered radicchio with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
4 Grill the radicchio over high heat, uncovered. Keep an eye on them, as they blacken quickly. You want a little blackening, but not a cinder.
When they’re done, move to a bowl and bring inside to chop.
5 Chop the radicchio quarters into bite-sized pieces and toss with the dressing and some black pepper.
6 Serve: Serve hot or at room temperature, garnished with grated pecorino or parmesan cheese.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Grilled Radicchio Salad
What is the consistency of the dressing? I had to use a blender that would not allow me to add slowly and the consistency of the dressing was very thick.
This is fine, it’s not supposed to be too watery. If you find it too thick, add a little more vinegar or water. ~Elise
Delicious! I made a couple of small changes, but the heart of it (the grilled radicchio!) was the same: Since I can’t tolerate raw garlic well, I sautéed it in a bit of olive oil. I had made too much of a marinade for a halibut steak we were grilling, so I put that into the pan: 1 part soy sauce, 1 part lemon, 1/2 part olive oil and 1/2 part balsamic vinegar. I let that simmer on low heat while I continued preparing dinner (for about 5 minutes? I don’t know… I never pay attention It should just thicken a bit). When it was done I added mustard (I have a “balsamic, fig and dates” one, but any sweet-ish one would do, I think), and some pepper.
To the chopped radicchio I added a carrot (I made it into shavings using the peeler), a handful of pine nuts, 3 of those tiny crunchy cucumbers, and once tossed with the dressing, grated some fresh romano on top.
Thank you for this great idea of grilling radicchio! For the first time ever, my husband elected to not eat as much of the fish and potatoes so that he could enjoy the rest of the salad! Love this site!
This week I had an amazing dish in a restaurant in San Francisco–radicchio, quartered and wrapped in proscuitto, then cooked in a hot oven. It was served with a creamy, tarter sauce-like accompaniment and I was hooked.
Looking forward to trying this too. Thanks!
I love radicchio as well and wanted to share my favorite radicchio recipe, Radicchio with Goat Cheese Crostini. Instead, of grilling I use a sautee pan to make this super easy appetizer. Chop up the radicchio – cook it with olive oil a little balsamic vinegar, honey salt and pepper. Serve warm with toasted crostini and a nice spread of fresh goat cheese. It is really tasty and easy!
Sorry! I forgot the key ingredient! Pancetta….so you start with garlic, pancetta cut like match sticks and red pepper flakes…..