Welcome autumn! My seasonal radicchio salad with fennel and pear and fine, roasted walnuts is as colorful as the autumn leaves. Its creamy dressing matches perfectly the slightly bitter, spicy, sweet and aniseed notes of the salad’s ingredients. Sun-ripened walnuts with their slightly sweet taste complement the autumn salad and the creation of a delicious autumn dish.
Autumn is harvest time
The (hopefully) golden autumn shows its best side with its large variety of vegetables, salads, fruits, mushrooms and nuts. At the market, in the shop of a local farm shop and at your greengrocer’s you will not only find pumpkin and butternut, but as well many seasonal products. Some of them I used for my radicchio salad with fennel and pear and fine roasted walnuts.
Radicchio belongs in the same family as endive and chicory. Yes, it is a bit bitter. However, there are different flavors, because the darker the leaves, the more bitter it is. Together with the sweet pear, which is also available in various flavors, and the fine fennel, which tastes slightly like anise, the result is a great-tasting salad. With loads of healthy vitamins and minerals, it is prepared quickly and easily.
Autumn time is pumpkin time
Talking about autumn, everybody thinks of pumpkin and butternut: This is the link to a vegan recipe for a delicious soup. This link opens the recipe of my vegan pumpkin pie.
If you are not yet familiar with my recipe for almond butter and how to make your own nut butter in general, you can follow this link to my recipe to make your own nut butter. Nut butter is the ideal storage product, tastes great in a salad dressing and is anything but complicated to prepare
Radiccio, Fennel and Pear Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large head of radicchio
- ½ fennel
- 1 sweet pear
- 40 g walnuts
For the dressing
- 3-4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp Shiro Miso
- 1 tsp almond butter
- 4 Tbsp Canola oil cold pressed
- 1 Tbsp maple sirup
- 1 tsp nutritional yeast
- salt
- lemon pepper
How to serve:
- 2-4 slices of seeded wholegrain bread
- 200 g almond or cashew cream cheese
Instructions
- Lightly roast the walnuts in a coated pan.
- Remove the core of the pear and cut the pear into thin slices. Remove the stalk from the radicchio and then cut the radicchio into fine strips. Cut the fennel into strips and then into bite-sized pieces. Put everything in a large bowl.
- Put all the ingredients for the dressing in a jar, screw on the lid and shake well. Pour the dressing into the bowl over the salad and mix everything well.
- Arrange the salad, sprinkle the walnuts on top and serve, e.g. with (homemade fermented) almond or cashew cream cheese and tasty whole grain bread.
Notes
No, red chicory is a relatively new cross between red radicchio and white chicory. It tastes a bit stronger than white chicory and – apart from the color – has its appearance. However, radicchio is also known as Italian chicory.
Radicchio is generally used in salads and Italian cooking. In Italy, the colorful vegetable is often sautéed then added to pasta dishes, risotto, and stews to balance the richness and add additional taste.
