Here's a quick salad you can make if you don't mind a little time chopping, or have a food processor handy. You can make it as an accompaniment dish for dinner, and then by adding in a tin of drained chickpeas or beans, the leftovers can become a substantial lunch too.
Radicchio has a bitter flavour that gets wasted in a general leaf salad. Unlike regular lettuce, it can hold up to being shredded and doused in oil, so you could also try roasting or grilling it, but I think this is a great recipe to use if you want to start familiarising yourself with its flavour.
I got the initial inspiration for shredding it and adding balsamic vinegar from Jamie Oliver's recipe, here, but I also had a cauliflower that needed using up, so added in parsley and a few pine nuts to make this into a full meal. I've written about my TOTAL INFATUATION with cauliflower quite a few times- such as the time I posited that it was the Christopher Walken of the vegetable world with a parsley and cauliflower salad that's perfect when barbecue season rolls around.
But don't let me neglect the real star of the show here. If you have time or a spare coffee break, the history of radicchio is kind of amazing - start at the wiki page and go from there.
Shredded radicchio and roasted cauliflower salad with parsley, pine nuts and lemon juice
Serves 4
Ingredients
Sunflower oil for roasting
Salt and pepper
One cauliflower, base of stalk removed and saved for future stock making (or another recipe)
Large handful of radicchio lettuce leaves
1/2 large bunch of washed parsley (if you're buying this from a supermarket it will be a large bunch of parsley)
Small handful of pine nut seeds
Juice of one lemon
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tin of drained chickpeas (If using leftovers too)
Turn the oven on to 200°C and lightly cover an oven-proof dish with oil, salt and pepper. Chop the cauliflower into florets, place in the tray with a little more oil and seasoning so they are well covered, and roast for 20 minutes.
Shred the radicchio in a food blender on the thinnest shredding blade, or use a sharp knife to cut the leaves into very fine shreds. Place in a large salad bowl.
Take your bunch of parsley and cut off the stalks (you can save these to make green rice or put in a stock). Cut the leaves into small pieces, or use your food processor again to blend. Mix into the radicchio.
In a dry frying pan, toast the pine nuts just so the outsides begin to darken and you can smell them. Pour them in to the salad bowl, along with the juice of one lemon and the balsamic vinegar.
Once the cauliflower has started going crispy on the outside (and before it is burnt!) tip all the florets into your salad bowl. Get the roasting oil and salt and pepper in there too- this will help to season the salad.
Stir everything together and check the seasoning- you may need a little more salt if it tastes too bitter. Then serve straight away.
For leftovers, simply mix in a tin of chickpeas and box up for lunch the next day.
