Radicchio Salad with Blue Cheese, Honeyed Walnuts and Cabernet

I looked in the crisper drawer and found a couple radicchio lettuce heads and asked myself what I could do with them. I moved to the cheese drawer and found a little piece of neglected blue cheese; it had been over-looked for the last few cheeseboards due to being so small, but this meant it had aged nicely.

Hmm… blue cheese and radicchio. Better get something a little sweet to balance it out. From the pantry, I got a handful of walnuts, tossed them in a pan with some honey, and cooked them until golden.

Now we are getting somewhere. But, although coated in honey, the walnuts would still have a slight bitterness.

Back to the fridge. There I found some Cabernet grapes; I de-seeded them and added them to the plan.

I thought that maybe the whole dish was getting a little too sweet now, so decided to throw in a few sprigs of peppery watercress to bring back the balance. Although not sure what it would taste like, I was pretty certain that the flavors would work relatively well together. I tossed it all in a large mixing bowl, whipped up a dressing, and served it up for lunch – so much for cleaning the fridge.

Enjoy this gorgeous radicchio salad by Chef Paul Hegeman.

Ingredients

• 1 head radicchio lettuce
• 25 sprigs watercress
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 ½ oz blue cheese
• 20 black Cabernet grapes
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• olive oil extra virgin
• sea salt flakes
• black pepper freshly ground

Instructions

• In a small saucepan, reduce the balsamic over a medium heat until reduced by two thirds. Allow to cool. (You could do a larger quantity, as reduced balsamic is always nice to have on hand.)
• Remove the outer leaves of the radicchio until you get to the deep red centre of the head.
• Break up the red heart and tear it into uniform bite size pieces. Remove the white spines by cutting a V in each leaf.
• Toss the walnuts with the honey, place them in a non stick pan, and cook over a high heat, tossing all the time or they will burn.
• Once golden, remove them from the pan and spread out on baking paper and allow to cool.
• In a small bowl, mix the mustard with a good splash of olive oil, season with a little salt and pepper, and whisk until combined.
• Place the lettuce, watercress and grape halves in a large mixing bowl and toss with a few tablespoons of the dressing.
• Arrange evenly on 4 plates and garnish with crumbled cheese, walnuts and a drizzle of the reduced balsamic.

Notes

Related: Beetroot Risotto with Gorgonzola Related: Our Best 31 Spring Salads

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