Wilted and seared radicchio with orange

This recipe is part of Ugly Vegetable Winter – weird winter vegetables that are delicious, locally grown, and often ignored.

It looks like a small cabbage, but radicchio is a type of leafy chicory – similar to Belgian endive and escarole which are also hardy in the winter. Earlier in the year you can find curly endive, Frisée. Chicories are soft leaves like lettuce, but with a bitter-spicy flavour when raw, which works well with very bright salad dressings. They become very mellow and sweet with cooking, such as being charred, seared, grilled, or wilted.

Ingredients

A side dish for 4 or a meal for 2. Do multiple batches if scaling up.

RADICCHIO

• 2–3 radicchio, around 650g

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• Salt and pepper

ORANGE DRESSING

• 1 orange, zest and juice

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 bunch of parsley or mint, 50g

• Salt and pepper to taste

INGREDIENT NOTES

Sweet oranges, like navel, are best here. Blood orange and grapefruit may be too bitter to compensate for the bitterness of radicchio.

Method

WILT-AND-FRY THE RADICCHIO

Cut the base off the radicchio and break apart all of the leaves.

Heat up a large pan or wok on medium-high. Add the olive oil when the oil shimmers add the radicchio. Add a pinch of salt, stir, and put a lid on it. This will rapidly wilt and steam-cook the radicchio.

After 3–5 minutes remove the lid. The radicchio should be soft, wilted, and fragrant. Stir and continue cooking for another 5 minutes until the radicchio has crispy charred edges on at least one side.

MAKE THE DRESSING

Zest an orange, and add the zest to a bowl. Juice the same orange and add the juice to the bowl. Finely chop the herbs and add to the bowl. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir, taste, and adjust for salt and acid levels.

SERVE

Toss the radicchio in the orange dressing. Serve warm.