Grilled Radicchio and Knob Onion Salad Recipe

Radicchio: a perfect example that grilling can make just about anything better. Most of the time I can't stand the stuff—the sharp bitterness wreaks havoc on my tastebuds. So when a head of it came in this week's CSA share, it was a last second moment of clarity that I should take it to the grill instead of giving it the old heave-ho into the collective swap bin in exchange for something more desirable. Totally the right decision—grilling transformed this foe to friend.

It was still bitter, but a bitterness that I found easy to take and rather pleasing. I mixed it together with red leaf lettuce and knob onions, which also got the grilled treatment, into salad that was a sea of textures and tastes with only a few simple ingredients.

There was the mellow bitterness and crisp edges of the radicchio, creamy and sweet onion innards, crunchy and charred onion stalks, and the freshness of lettuce that was topped off with a sherry-mustard vinaigrette. It's not too often I'm found eating salad, and even rarer seen eating radicchio, but grill it up like this and I'll be the first to dig in.