That's So Rad(icchio)
Most of you probably know radicchio as, "wait, what's radicchio? Is it bad? It sounds bad."
It's not bad. It's rad. It's a deep maroon lettuce that is frequently shoved to the side in mixed salads but truly shines on its own as a bitter green when dressed with delicious, fatty elements like good tuna, white beans and lots of olive oil.
Because it's been about 10,000 degrees with 300% humidity in Chicago for the past few days, I've been eating a lot of salad. And salad is good and fine and delicious but sometimes it needs help that a sprinkling of Trader Joe's Sweet 'n Spicy pecans just can't provide. So you have to add white beans and shaved fennel and an extraordinarily garlicky cross between vinaigrette and chimichurri sauce. Or at least I do.
This recipe is a variation on one I found on Bon Appetit forever ago with several very minor changes. First, it calls for fennel instead of celery because I hate raw celery like poison and love raw fennel like woah. You can go either way. Second, I made the vinaigrette a little less fiddly because nobody got time for champagne vinegar.
This recipe comes together incredibly quickly but make sure you use either a large food processor or a high-powered blender to make the dressing because the parsley is tough and otherwise you'll be blending forever (like I was). This makes a lot of dressing but it's so good that you'll want lots and lots of it. Serve with thinly sliced, very crunchy bread and feel tres chic.
Ingredients:
For the parsley vinaigrette
2 c. flat leaf parsley, packed
1/2 c. EVOO
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt and pepper to taste
For the salad:
2 small heads of radicchio, chopped into bite-size piece
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced on a diagonal, fronds reserved for garnish
1 15-oz. can cannelini beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans good quality tuna in olive oil, undrained
Directions:
1. Combine parsley, EVOO, lemon juice and garlic in food processor. Blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reserve.
2. On a large platter, arrange the chopped radicchio. Sprinkle with the sliced fennel.
3. In a small bowl, combine the tuna in oil, broken into large chunks and the cannelini beans. Stir to combine.
4. Arrange the tuna/bean mixture over the radicchio and fennel. Drizzle with the parsley vinaigrette and top with the fennel fronds.
