Radicchio, Beet, and Mint Salad
Source: Joyce Goldstein, Inside the California Food Revolution
Recipe Type: Salads | Seasons: Autumn, Winter
This recipe was demonstrated for CUESA’s Market to Table program on August 31, 2013.
Matisse would have loved this incredibly beautiful salad with its streaked red and white radicchio, gold beets, oranges, pine nuts, and green mint leaves. If charming is a word that can be used to describe a salad, this is it. Here bitter radicchio is cheerfully tamed by the sweetness of beets, mint, raisins, pine nuts, and balsamic vinegar and the sweet-tart quality of citrus. In summer you may want to try this salad with plums or pluots in place of the oranges.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
Balsamic Vinaigrette
7 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1½ tablespoons sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper
2 heads radicchio, cut in wide strips
4 tablespoons raisins, plumped in water, orange juice or marsala
4 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
4 small cooked beets, cut in eighths or thinner
40 mint leaves (torn if very large)
Seeds of 1 pomegranate (optional)
2 oranges, segmented (about 20-24 orange segments) or 2-3 tart plums, sliced
PREPARATION
1. Assemble the vinaigrette by whisking together all of the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Put the radicchio in a salad bowl. Pour the vinaigrette into a sauté pan and add the plumped raisins and pine nuts. Warm the mixture for a few minutes, then add to the radicchio and toss while warm.
3. Add the beets, pomegranate seeds, and mint and toss again. Place on salad plates and top with orange segments.
