As you’ve probably noticed we like to eat salads around here, but I must say at times it can get slightly repetitive by the end of each season. Now that Fall has arrived there’s a fresh selection of new produce available with a few goodies still around from late summer. I really wanted to make a grilled salad, and Ry happened to bring home some really delicious apple plums from work. So, I figured those could be the start of the salad and what better to grill along with plums than radicchio.

When I was younger I hated radicchio. My dad would always add into salads and I would always pick it out. It wasn’t until I got older, and clearly more refined (not at all), that I started to enjoy bitter greens like endive, chicories, dandelion greens and radicchio. There is something about pairing that charred and bitter flavor together that I really like, and it gets even better when you add in something sweet like the plums and aged balsamic. I also added fresh thyme, wild rice and some really sharp goat cheese to finish things up. This was a slight experiment with the pairing of ingredients, and I wasn’t totally sure how much Ry and I would like it, but it was SO good. This is definitely going to be a repeat salad here for the season, and I might even try a few other variations with different fruits and greens.

It wasn’t till I got older, and clearly more refined (not at all), that I started to enjoy bitter greens like endive, chicories, dandelion greens and radicchio.

This is a quick and easy salad to make, really just a bit of prep and then you are ready to plate up and eat. But I do want to stress, you are only trying to get some charr on the plums and radicchio, not actually cook them. You still want it to be a crisp salad, just with some charred flavor.

And, as you’ve probably noticed I used purple basil here. I tend to grow a ton of basil in our yard, because I love it, and luckily the seed mix I get has a purple variety in it. Since the other ingredients happened to be purple I decided to keep it all purple, but you can most certainly use any other variety of basil you can find.

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Grilled Radicchio Salad

A grilled radicchio salad with grilled plums, purple basil, thyme, goat cheese, wild rice and a balsamic dressing. The perfect fall salad.

Prep Time10

Cook Time10

Total Time20

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: grilled radicchio salad, radicchio salad

Servings:

Author: Rachel Lerro

Ingredients

1 head radicchio
2 plums
1 C wild rice cooked
1 bunch basil whatever variety you like
1-2 oz goat cheese
olive oil
aged balsamic
fresh thyme
salt
pepper

Instructions

To start off you want to get your wild rice cooking. I was aiming for about a cup or so for the two of us, but make as much as you like. Just follow the directions on the package since the cooking times can vary.
Next, once your rice is just about done, you want to preheat your grill so it’s screaming hot. To prep the radicchio and the plums I just sliced them into thick disks and wedges. The shape isn’t really all that important you just want make sure it’s a size that you can easily skewer and flip on the grill. Coat them in a bit of olive oil and some salt and then grill them for about 1-3 mins per side. Just until they have some charr on them.
After you’re finished grilling you are ready to plate up. I sliced up the radicchio into smaller, more bite sized pieces, then arranged it along with the plums on a plate. Next you want to sprinkle the wild rice on top and add lots of goat cheese, basil, olive oil, a generous drizzle of aged balsamic and a good bit of salt and fresh cracked pepper. That’s it. Eat up!