Tag: Radicchio

Radicchio-usly Easy Salad (with Bleu Cheese and Dijon Dressing)

2 Comments

Radicchio-usly Easy Salad with Bleu Cheese and Dijon Dressing

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 head radicchio (core removed, cut into ribbons)
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsps olive oil
  • salt and pepper (to taste)
  • 2-3 oz creamy bleu cheese (e.g. Saint Agur)
  • 1/4 cup toasted walnuts (chopped)

Instructions
 

  • Place the dijon and vinegar in the bottom of the salad's serving bowl. Whisk with a fork until fully blended. Continue whisking as you pour the olive oil into the mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add radicchio to the bowl and toss with the dressing until coated. Pull the bleu cheese apart with finger into bite-sized pieced and sprinkle over salad. Sprinkle with walnuts. Serve.
Keyword Bleu Cheese, Dijon Mustard, Radicchio, Salad, Salad Dressing

And now for the details…

Oh MAN I love this salad. It comes together so quick and easy, I’m almost ashamed to share it. Almost. But it is also one of my favourite salads, so combine the ease of preparation with the satisfying tastiness of this salad, and it would be an absolute shame not to share it.

This salad was inspired by a similar salad we had in Paris at the Bouillon Chartier. Theirs uses endives, but… endives are expensive! The bitter flavour from the endives is mimicked here with the radicchio instead. Mix that bitterness with the salty, creaminess of the bleu cheese, the tang of the dijon dressing, and the crunch of the walnuts, and it is a match made in heaven.

Radicchio can be very bitter. It’s often roasted or grilled to soften the bitterness, or only added sparingly along with other greens for salads. In this case, though, we are embracing and celebrating that bitter flavour in it’s full glory, and pairing it with the other ingredients to provide nice contrasts of flavours and textures.

Without further ado, let’s make this salad! We are going to make everything in the same bowl out of which we will be serving/eating. This is the glorious part about this salad, it comes together so quickly and doesn’t dirty many dishes. It is one of my favourite lunches right now, since I can throw it together quickly, which is something important right now while I am working from home and need something in a hurry.

Start by placing the mustard and vinegar into the bowl, and whisking it with a fork (the same fork you plan on eating with? Why of course!) until the two are fully mixed together.

Next slowly pour the olive oil in with the vinegar and mustard, whisking as you pour, until the dressing is fully mixed and a homogeneous mix. Add salt and pepper to your preferred taste, and mix well.

Cut the core out of the radicchio and discard, then cut the radicchio into small bite-sized ribbons. Add the cut radicchio to the bowl, and toss with the dressing until the radicchio is evenly coated.

Tear the bleu cheese into bite-sized chunks and add them to the salad. This is not a place to be skimpy; use nice, big pieces, and make sure the salad is rife with cheese! Finally, loosely crumbled the toasted walnuts over the salad, and then it’s time to eat!

Happy eating.

Grilled Apricot Salad with Radicchio and Mint

1 Comment

Grilled Apricot Salad

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 4 apricots (washed, halved and pitted)
  • 1 head radicchio (cored and sliced)
  • 1/2 cup fresh mint (washed and chopped)
  • 1/2 bulb fresh fennel (cored and sliced thin)
  • 2 Tbsps bleu cheese (crumbled)
  • 4 Tbsps pecans (toasted and chopped)
  • 2 Tbsps dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsps white wine vinegar
  • 2+4 Tbsps olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Cut apricots in half and remove pits. Coat with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Place on a bbq at medium-high heat, turning halfway through until cooked through (about 4-5 minutes total). Remove from grill and set aside. Place radicchio and fennel on a plate. Whisk together the mustard, vinegar and 4 Tbsp oil until emulsified. Pour over the vegetables. Top with apricots. Sprinkle with mint, cheese and pecans, and serve.
Keyword Apricot, BBQ, Bleu Cheese, Grill, Mint, Salad, Salad Dressing

And now for the details…

I have a radicculous love for radicchio (oh yes, I went that cheesy). As I get older, I have come to enjoy more and more the bitter element that many foods provide that I could not appreciate when I was younger. Coffee, strong tea, dark chocolate, grapefruit, red wine and, of course: radicchio. There is something about bringing the bitterness together with sweet, sour, and creamy that amps all those flavours up a notch and creates a taste explosion.

A favourite salad we had in France was incredibly simple: endive, crumbled bleu cheese and mustard dressing. This recipe is taking that super simple salad and giving it a tiny bump up. We are adding in the sweet and sour of the grilled apricots, not to mention the earthiness that comes out of those grill marks. We are pulling in the freshness and sweetness of the mint and fennel. And we are adding a bit of crunch with the toasted pecans. Plus, the slight bitter note of the pecan skins matches so wonderfully with the bitterness of the radicchio. And the creamy, salty bleu cheese? Yes, thank you.

So with that: let’s get to making this salad a reality.

Start by prepping your veggies. Wash and dry the radicchio. Cut it into halves, and core the hard centre out before slicing the rest of it into strips.

Next, wash and core your fennel, and slice it into very thin strips. Raw fennel is quite crunchy, so you want those nice thin pieces to bring forward the juiciness and sweetness of the fennel while not being the focus of the bite when you are trying to chew. Add the fennel to the radicchio in your plate and toss to mix the two.

Next, cut the apricots into halves and pull them off their pits. Add the olive oil and toss to coat the apricots lightly with some olive oil so they do not stick to the grill. Place them on a medium-high grill, allowing them to brown slightly on the one side before turning and browning on the other side. Remove them from the grill and set them to the side while you prep the rest of the salad.

Mix the vinegar and the mustard together. Slowly add the oil, whisking the entire time, so that the mixture emulsifies.

Emulsify: what does this mean? It is mixing liquids together (e.g. oil and vinegar), which normally separate, but mixing them with another ingredient so they mix together and stay fairly stable as a homogeneous mix, instead of separating the moment after you have swished them together. In other words, the emulsifier is your facilitator to make sure the vinegar and oil continue to get along. In this case, mustard is our emulsifier. We mix the mustard and vinegar together first, to allow the mustard and vinegar to get to know each other and build a relationship. Then, we add the oil while whisking, and the whole blend comes together beautifully, while remaining a stable mix. Y’see, mustard introduces itself to oil all slick-like, and mustard pulls in vinegar and makes sure oil and vinegar get to be best friends too, without wanting to be apart from each other the moment they come together. Oh wow. Mustard is basically the world’s best wing (wo)man. Yes this sounds hokey. And of course there is a scientific explanation. In fact this article speaks much more to the emulsifying qualities of mustard.

Finally, we can finish off our salad. Place the apricots over the radicchio and fennel. Sprinkle the mint overtop and crumble the bleu cheese over the salad. The easiest method for crumbling the bleu cheese? Fingies. Make sure you take the cheese out straight out of the fridge, which will make it a bit easier to crumble, then squish the sh*t out of it between your fingers as you sprinkle it over your salad. Finish the salad off with some toasted pecans and drizzle with your dressing, then serve.

Happy eating.