Recipes
p. 102
Charred radicchio with blood orange
A plate for the end of winter: bitter leaves, sweet fruit and too much good oil.
This is the plate we make at the end of every winter, when the radicchio is at its most bitter and the blood oranges are at their sweetest. It takes twenty-five minutes and looks like a painting.
Let the leaves blacken properly at the edges. The char is not a mistake; it is what balances the honey and the fruit.
Serve it warm with good bread, or on its own as a first course before something rich.
The recipe
Charred radicchio with blood orange
Serves 4
25 min
Ingredients
2 heads of radicchio 3 blood oranges 1 tbsp honey 4 tbsp olive oil Flaky salt 50g toasted hazelnuts
Method
Quarter the radicchio through the root and brush with oil. Grill or char in a hot pan until blackened at the edges. Segment two oranges and whisk the juice of the third with honey, oil and salt. Arrange, dress and scatter with hazelnuts.
“Let the leaves blacken at the edges. That’s the point.”
About the writer
Kwame Asante
Kwame runs a twelve-seat supper club in Peckham and writes Octavo’s At the Table recipes. He cooks West African food through a Portuguese pantry.
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