Food52 Genius Recipe #45 Radicchio Salad with Manchego Vinaigrette

 

There are a bunch of salads in the cookbook, so I've been peppering them in here and there throughout the year. This is one of the easiest recipes because there are so few ingredients and no cooking involved. You do need an hour for the vinaigrette to come together, but most of that can even be done ahead of time. The biggest problem I had was finding radicchio in my area. It took visits to 4 different grocery stores before I found it. Even when I did, this stuff isn't cheap. Since it was just Christine and I eating it, I only bought one head of radicchio instead of the 2 to 3 as called for in the recipe.

After coring the radicchio and chopping it into 1-inch pieces, place into ice code water for 15 minutes. This removes some of the bitterness. Meanwhile, the vinaigrette can be started by combining balsamic and sherry vinegars. Red onion gets chopped and then added to the vinegar mixture to infuse it with the flavor instead of adding the strong kick of raw red onion to the salad. After an hour, the onion gets strained out before honey and olive oil gets whisked in. The radicchio gets tossed with the vinaigrette and then with Manchego cheese. More of the cheese should be grated over the top of each portion before serving.

We both thought this salad was fine. It served as a nice vegetable side but I prefer my salad to be full of stuff and thought it was just too simple. I think a mix of radicchio and some other greens would have offered more flavors and textures. The dressing with the cheese was good and it was the first time I've had Manchego before. If I take anything from this recipe, it's going to be consuming more Manchego.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cribbage with Grandpas

Image
Cribbage with Grandpas is a Cribbage app you can play on mobile devices. There are plenty of free cribbage apps out there, but I like this implementation a lot more. It's available on both  Android  and  Apple  for just a few dollars and gives you the ability to make custom Grandpa avatars to play against. Besides just the way your grandfather looks, you can also choose personality traits, the setting in which you play, and the snack that he has sitting near him. He'll tell jokes and make comments throughout the game, which makes it just that much more immersive.  Is it necessary to pay to have these things? Absolutely not. Does it add a lot to the experience? Absolutely.  As with other Cribbage apps, there are different difficulty levels so even if you've never played before you can get better and still have a challenge. One thing I really like is that you have to score your cards yourself by selecting them. If you happen to miss something, Grandpa will let you know that
Read more

Social Media Break

Image
I'm struggling right now. I'm searching for direction, trying figure out what I want to do in my life. I'm working on being a better person and want to get more fulfillment out of the work that I do. Instead of focusing and creating a plan, I spend way too much time on social media. It's easy to get lost in the lives of others, hilarious memes, constant "breaking news" updates, and the seemingly non-stop political coverage that is this time period's blood sport. So for at least the month of February, I'll be taking a break from Twitter and Facebook (they're the only platforms I use). I've already deleted the apps off of my phone in an effort to help break the chains, so to speak. The hope is that I better use the time that I used to spend just mindlessly scanning through those feeds. Other than using that time towards working out whatever it is that I'm going through right now, there are a bunch of other things that will easily fill
Read more

Buying and Selling: A Real Estate Story

Image
We've been in Delaware going on 8 years this August. Roughly a year after moving to Dover, we bought a new build townhouse in Smyrna. Our current home has served us well, but since moving in our family has more than doubled in size. We have more than enough room for everyone, but the set up of living on three floors is less than ideal. Coupled with not having a suitable yard for the kids to play and the congestion of the streets in our community, we felt the need to look for a single family home. Not only did we want a single family again, but I even suggested moving out of state for a change of scenery. After some very serious discussions and looking at the costs to leave Delaware, we ultimately decided that we'd stay...for now. Christine and I would like to move when the kids get out of school, but that's a post for another day. For the past two months we've looked at homes in Smyrna online and even went to see some in person. I wasn't really that interested
Read more