Pasta With Asparagus and Cooked Radicchio

On the surface, this pasta and vegetable dish isn’t terribly interesting to look at (some asparagus, mushrooms, cheese, olives, shallots) but what really added a special bit to the meal was the addition of radicchio sautéed in olive oil. Tossed on in the last moments of cooking, the leaves added a pleasant bitter element to the mildness of the asparagus and shallots. All these years I’ve been using the bitter lettuce in salads without realising it could withstand cooking-in fact, the flavour becomes more complex with heating and olive oil. I wouldn’t hesitate to serve it solo as a side-dish. Paired with lamb chops or some meaty mushrooms, it would compliment nicely.

Afterthought-I would have cut the asparagus shorter. I intended to serve it with linguine, but upon realising I has but ¼ of a package in the pantry, I had to shift gears and use a smaller pasta. Bite sized-pieces would have been nicer.