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Radicchio with Strawberry, Black Olives, and Ricotta
I have an absolute passion for ricotta – its creamy softness, and flavour so delicate it is hardly there – and it combines fabulously with the sweetness of the strawberries and bitterness of the radicchio.
Radicchio makes for excellent salads – gorgeous colour, robust enough that it doesn’t collapse into a wimpy heap if you add heavier ingredients, and just enough bitterness to be interesting without making your eyes water. There are many salads to make with it, but I love this one.
- 1 head of radicchio
- 40g ricotta
- 10 black olives
- A large handful of strawberries
- Small salad onion,
- Lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons of olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Teaspoon of honey – optional
- Salt and pepper
- Roughly chop or break up the radicchio – so you have a good, but not unwieldy expanse of leaf.
- Very finely slice the onion.
- Hull and quarter the strawberries – unless they are very large, in which case chop them smaller.
- Roughly slice the black olives into rings.
- Put it all in a bowl and grate the lemon zest over it.
- Add the olive oil, honey, balsamic vinegar, and salt and mix really well.
- Scatter small pieces of ricotta over it.
Diva notes.
Strawberries
Strawberries must be sweet or there is absolutely no point in eating them. Very often the ones for sale are not. There are plenty of sweet and delicious varieties, so could somebody please explain why these are not mandatory? And why governments all over the world sit back and do nothing?
Black Olives
I either use the mild ones you get in tins – which I slice into chunky rounds – or the bitter squidgy ones, which I leave whole.
Leftover Radicchio
Radicchio looks terrible the next day – as if it’s had far too much to drink and has a massive hangover – but it’s actually really delicious. So don’t throw away any left over; eat it for lunch the next day.
Ricotta’s LCD Credentials
As it is fairly low fat, and contains a lot of moisture, you can eat 40g for the same calories as 15g of Parmesan.
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