Radicchio salad with roasted Autumn veg

Radicchio is so beautiful. I remember the first year I grew it I was so delighted with these gorgeous new vegetables I’d just discovered… I was less delighted when I realised that the ones I’d grown were totally inedible!

I’d make the mistake of sowing my radicchio in the Spring - for a Summer harvest. And, as I now know, a Summer radicchio is unbelievably bitter. Truly inedible! Even my pigs wouldn’t eat them.

However, Autumn radicchio (from seeds sown in July or August) is just bitter enough - its bitterness is what makes it such a delicacy. I normally, roast or char my radicchio (the cooking removes some of the bitterness) but today I wanted to make a salad that used raw radicchio leaves - and take full advantage of their wonderful colour.

Serves 2

250g carrots
250g parsnips
olive oil for roasting
two sprigs of thyme
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 generous teaspoon of honey
small handful of pecan nuts
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced or grated
Another teaspoon of honey
1 head of radicchio

1. First, preheat your oven to 230*C and then prep your veg for roasting. Wash and peel the carrots and parsnips and cut in half or quarters into long strips.

2. Throw the vegetables into a baking tray with some olive oil, plenty of salt and pepper and some fresh thyme leaves. Put into the hot oven.

3. Mix 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar and a generous teaspoon of honey together in a glass or mug.

4. Once your carrot and parsnips are almost soft (for me it was after 15 minutes in the oven), take them out and drizzle over the honey / cider vinegar. Mix the veg until they are well coated. Put them back into the oven for 10 minutes to caramelize.

5. Meanwhile, toast your peacan nuts in a dry frying pan over a high heat. Make sure they don’t burn. If they are starting to colour too quickly remove them from the frying pan onto a cold plate.

6. Make the salad dressing. Combine the red wine vinegar, honey, garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil (you can use the same glass or mug as before) and stir well to disolve the honey.

7. Gently deconstruct your radicchio head, pulling off each of the leaves and tearing them up if they are large. Wash and spin them. Put them in a bowl with half the salad dressing and gently toss them until coated.

8. Arrange the radicchio leaves on a platter. Top with the warm roasted veg and the pecan nuts then drizzle over the rest of the salad dressing.