Bridget, one of our professional growers, found this recipe on the Riverford Organic Farmers website. I served it garnished with parsley, the bright green contrasting well with the red of the dish – delicious.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
50 g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 large or 1 small radicchio, finely sliced
400g risotto rice
300ml red wine
1 1/2 – 2 litres veg or chicken stock
3 Tbsp Parmesan or Pecorino cheese, grated
Pepper
Method
Heat the oil and butter in a heavy-based casserole over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook slowly for 5-7 minutes until soft. Add the radicchio and rice and stir. Pour in the wine. Stir for 1-2 minutes. Add the hot stock a little at a time, stirring continuously, until the stock is absorbed (about 20 minutes).
When cooked, the rice should be tender but firm in the centre. Mix in the cheese. Season with black pepper to taste.
Try these delicious ways with radicchio on our recipes page:-
Radicchio and lemon pasta
Radicchio, pear, blue cheese + walnut salad
This recipe from Riverford Organic Farms is a beautiful combination of flavours and texures. We’ll be using the radicchio and mixed salad leaves in Camel CSA’s weekly boxes with Cornish blue cheese, English pears and Cornish sea salt.
Serves: 4
Preparation/cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 head radicchio, tough core removed, leaves shredded
100g mixed salad leaves, or shredded lettuce leaves
small knob of butter
1 tbsp olive oil
4 pears, cored + sliced
150g walnut pieces
2 tbsp clear honey
splash balsamic vinegar
sea salt + black pepper
200g stilton, crumbled
extra virgin olive oil to finish
Method
Mix the radicchio and salad leaves together in a large bowl. In a large frying pan, heat the butter and oil. Add the pears. Cook on a reasonably high heat until the pears have softened and turned golden brown.
Add the walnuts, honey and a good splash of balsamic vinegar. Season well with salt and pepper. Stir gently to combine, remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. Add a tablespoon or two more of good olive oil. Pour the pears into the salad leaves and lightly toss to combine.
Either serve on one large platter, sprinkled with the stilton, or on individual plates. Drizzle over a little more olive oil to serve.
A member of the chicory family sometimes known as red chicory, radicchio has distinctive pink-red leaves with white veins. Its firm, cup-shaped leaves have a strongly bitter taste. It is generally used in salads mixed with other salad leaves. In its native Italy it is often served shredded. Alternatively, tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces. But there are also a number of recipes that make use of it cooked.
Yotam Ottolenghi cooks it lightly and mixes it with walnuts, lentils and honey for a tasty dish. And Sarah Raven has this recipe for Radicchio and lemon pasta in her Garden Cookbook which she says is quick to prepare and delicious cold the next day.
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking: about 15 minutes
Ingredients
100g chopped pancetta
2-3 tbsp olive oil
½ onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
200g dried egg tagliatelle
200g radicchio
3 tbsp dry white wine
50g butter
grated zest of 1 lemon
100ml double cream
handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
grated parmesan, to serve
salt and black pepper
Method
Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Put the chopped pancetta into a wide shallow pan over a moderate heat with half the olive oil. When the fat begins to run, add the chopped onion and garlic, and then cook with the pancetta for about 3-4 minutes, until the onion has softened.
Put the pasta into the pan of salted boiling water and cook until al dente.
Slice the radicchio into thin strips and add to the onion mixture with the wine and sauté until the radicchio begins to wilt. Add the butter and lemon zest; pour in the cream and season well. Add this to the drained pasta with the remaining olive oil and the chopped flat-leaf parsley. Finish with a generous topping of parmesan.
