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Thursday, May 24, 2007

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.

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