Author Notes
I love a composed salad, with ingredients separately prepped and layered on the plate in a fine fusion of flavor and color. While most types of lettuce stand up poorly to heat, radicchio is remarkably resilient. Doused with a good quality olive oil and flash-flamed over a grill, radicchio loses its bitter bite to impart a sweet, smokey complexity to the salad. Paired with the crunch of shaved fennel and slices of juicy Bartlett pear, topped with pistachios and blackberries, and you have a summer salad that needs little more than a fresh herb dressing. For those last-of-summer pickings from the garden, I’ve taken a few sprigs of fresh oregano, thyme and rosemary, whisked them with olive oil and lemon, and there you have it. A summer salad made simple. —Vivian Henoch
Ingredients
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1
head Radicchio, quartered lengthwise
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1
medium Fennel bulb
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1
Bartlett Pear, sliced
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6
leaves Red Lettuce
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12
blackberries
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1/4
cup pistachios
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1/4 cup
extra virgin olive oil
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1/4
teaspoon Dijon mustard
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1
sprig fresh thyme
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1
sprig fresh rosemary
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1
sprig fresh oregano
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1/4
cup crumbled Gorgonzola (optional)
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1/2
lime, juiced
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salt & pepper to taste
Directions
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Preheat a gas grille to medium-high or prepare a medium hot fire in a charcoal grill. Drizzle olive oil over quartered radicchio and place on grill; cover and cook until outer leaves are lightly charred. About two minutes per side.
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Cut fennel and pear into thin slices and arrange on red lettuce leaves. Add grilled radicchio, berries and nuts.
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In a small bowl (or a food processor) whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, lime juice, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Drizzle over salad. Optional: add crumbled Gorgonzola. Enjoy.
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