Radicchio and Radish Salad
The bright red color in this salad gets me every time, it’s too beautiful not to share with you all.
To start with, butter lettuce from my garden fills up the bottom of the salad bowl and adds a mellow component. I’ll also use mixed greens when I don’t have enough lettuce to harvest. Radicchio is a slightly bitter red leaf lettuce that slices into the most beautiful tendrils. Those thin slices of lettuce soak up all the flavor of the dressing.
Add in thin slices of radish, cut on a mandolin, and you have colorful red and white layers of crunch and bite. If you don’t have a mandolin, cut the radish as thin as possible with a sharp knife. But there’s nothing like paper thin slices of raw radish that look almost like stained glass, and unless you have expert knife skills you’ll need a mandolin. A thin slice also has less bite and diffuses the peppery flavor. Green onions or chives and minced herbs add a final layer of flavor and color.
If you’ve never used it before, radicchio is also delicious brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled on high heat. When it comes off the grill, drizzle it with more extra virgin olive oil, feta and sumac if you have it, or just eat it as is. And if you can find watermelon radish or any type of colorful heirloom radish to shave for this salad, use it!
This would be a perfect dinner party salad, or addition to a “date night in” menu. The radicchio and radish can be cut hours in advance and the salad dressing can sit at room temperature until you’re ready to toss things up. I use my super simple salad dressing to dress the greens, but switch out the champagne vinegar for apple cider vinegar.
Let me know if you make this salad for a dinner side dish or date night in. And as always, I’d love to see what you’re making from my site. Tag #smartinthekitchen so I can follow along and regram my favorites.
Radicchio and Radish Salad
Ingredients
- 1 head butter leaf lettuce or 2 cups mixed greens
- 1 head radicchio
- 3 green onions white and green parts, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 3 radishes trimmed and thinly sliced on a mandolin
- Chives mint or parsley, diced
- Sea salt and pepper
Instructions
- Add the salad greens to a large salad bowl. Cut the radicchio in half lengthwise and slice as thin as possible from the top the root. Add to the bowl
- Add the green onions and radish to the top of the radicchio.
- Sprinkle fresh minced herbs on top of the radish and a sprinkling of sea salt and pepper.
- Toss with super simple salad dressing until greens are evenly coated with vinaigrette, but not overdressed.
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