Grilled radicchio, beet, and blood orange salad
Every once in awhile I come back to Joyce Goldstein's Mediterranean Fresh for a salad idea. We had beets and oranges from the market as well as a stash of pine nuts and golden raisins. I picked up some radicchio and a really good salad was created. You can vary the colors of the beets and oranges you choose if you wish. Having grilled romaine before for a Caesar, it didn't sound too weird to grill radicchio. The fat in this recipe from the pine nuts and olive oil is at least "good" fat.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 head radicchio, quartered, rinsed and drained
- 2 big blood oranges or the equivalent of other oranges, mandarins, satsumas, or kishus, peeled, white pith removed and sliced, chunked or whatever
- 4 small beets, cooked and sliced (directions below)
- 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted in a small skillet
- 1/4 cup golden raisins, plumped by soaking in water or Marsala
- 1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions
- To prepare the beets, roast them at 375 degrees wrapped in an aluminum foil packet until fork tender maybe up to an hour, peel when cool and slice thinly.
- Brush the radicchio with a little olive oil. You can grill it outdoors in season or using a stove top grill pan until the sides are browned a bit.
- Arrange the beets, radicchio, and oranges on plates. Whisk the remaining olive oil into the balsamic vinegar in a small bowl.
- Warm the dressing, drained raisins, and pine nuts in a small skillet and drizzle over the salad.
- Season to taste. This is a wonderful mix of flavors.