Radicchio Salad with Watermelon Radish & Pecans

Delightfully bitter and wonderfully vibrant, this colourful Mixed Radicchio Salad with watermelon radish and toasted pecans makes the perfect winter salad by balancing big flavours and glorious textures. On a recent culinary excursion to Lady York, a specialty Italian supermarket in North Toronto, we discovered white Castelfranco Radicchio, which has yellow leaves dotted with burgundy as if they were splattered with red wine, and spectacular Watermelon Radishes, an heirloom variety of peppery daikon radish. Drizzled with a tangy orange vinaigrette, this gorgeous salad is absolutely delicious and almost too pretty to eat.

Radicchio Salad with Watermelon Radish & Pecans

Serves 2

Radicchio di Chioggia, 6 leaves

Castelfranco Radicchio, 6 leaves 

Belgian Endive, 6 leaves 

Baby Gem, 6 leaves

2 stalks celery with leaves, coarsely chopped

Watermelon Radish, 6 very fine slices

10 pecans, raw or lightly toasted

Citrus Vinaigrette:

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Juice of 1 orange

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the citrus vinaigrette by adding all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until emulsified, then set aside. Wash and dry the radicchio, endive and baby gem in a salad spinner, tear into bite size pieces and add to a salad bowl. Add the chopped celery, toasted pecans and watermelon radish, and dress the salad with the citrus vinaigrette.