Sick of all your everday vegetable dishes? Try this Broiled Radicchio recipe for a delightful and easy-to-make change. Radicchio is a slightly bitter vegetable that is part of the chicory family. Click here for more information on radicchio.
Cooked this way, the vegetable has a slightly crisp texture and a bracing taste. It also looks attractive when served to guests who don’t turn up their noses at its subtly bitter flavor.
There are different types of radicchio, but for this Broiled Radicchio recipe we’re speaking only about the Chioggia variety, which is the the round, deep red type that is most commonly found in the United States.
Select a radicchio that is small—because it will cook better and be less bitter— is very firm with tightly closed deep red leaves. Though the recipe indicates broiling, simply because I live in a New York City apartment with no access to outdoor cooking, grilling it would be even more preferable.
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Wash and dry the radicchio with paper towels. Cut the radicchio in half vertically through the root end.
Cut the radicchio in half.
Make a couple gashes in the root so that it cooks more evenly.
With both thumbs, beginning at the root and working outwards, spread out the leaves as much as possible so that the vegetable resembles a mature fully opened peony flower.
Spread the leaves apart.
Keeping the leaves as open as possible, pour one half of the olive oil evenly over each half, so that it permeates the vegetable. Sprinkle each half with a teaspoon of kosher salt.
Finally, grind fresh black pepper to taste over each half. As a variation, you could splash a bit of balsamico vinegar over the leaves, although I prefer the taste of just olive oil.
Place the halves, cut side up, on a broiler pan, and broil them about six inches from the flame—about 6-8 minutes—until the top outer leaves begin to char. The bottom leaves may still be a bit crisp.
Broil the radicchio.
This Broiled Radicchio recipe serves 2.
