Recipes for Grilled Radicchio

The Olives Table : Over 160 Recipes from the Critically Acclaimed Restaurant and Home Kitchen of Todd English
By Todd English, Sally Sampson
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What Grows Together, Goes Together

Garlic Roasted Radicchio

One of the central tenets of seasonal eating is the notion that things that grow side by side taste good together. That’s the idea behind chef Todd English’s Olives restaurant in Boston. "The whole concept of Olives was of cooking food from where olives grow. The whole Mediterranean belt," he explains in the introduction to his new cookbook, The Olives Table.

Olives must be in his blood, he goes on to say. His great-great grandparents had an olive farm in Italy and he spent time working in restaurants in Italy.

The following recipe is one he picked up in Italy. It brings out the "better bitter qualities" of radicchio, a vegetable that in its raw form has a different type of bitterness that English does not like.

"Be sure to cook the radicchio until it is fully crisped," he advises.

What to serve it with? Roasted chicken or rabbit ravioli.

Garlic Roasted Radicchio

8 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Ľ cup olive oil
1 tbs chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Ľ cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
˝ tsp black pepper
4 large heads radicchio, halved through the root
Grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

1. Place the garlic, olive oil, rosemary, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and mix well. Add the radicchio and gently toss so that it is well coated. Cover and let marinate at room temperature for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

3. Place the radicchio in a baking pan and pour the marinade on top. Place in the oven and roast until the edges of the radiccio are crisp and almost beginning to look burnt, about 20 to 25 minutes.

4. Serve immediately, with grated Parmesan cheese.

Recipe Copyright 1997 Simon and Schuster,
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
Reprinted with permission