Radicchio, chestnut and blue cheese salad
Bitter leaves, salty cheese, sweet chestnuts: this is a winter salad that I can鈥檛 confine myself to eating just in season. I generally go for Gorgonzola or Stilton here, but essentially what you need is blue cheese that will crumble well without going into buttery clumps. And while I would never normally condone putting either in the fridge, here the cheese must be cold so that you can crumble it.
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 1 lime, juice only
- 1 orange, juice only
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 drop toasted sesame oil
- pinch sea salt flakes
For the salad
- 1 large or 2 small heads radicchio, torn into bite-sized pieces
- 100g/3陆oz vacuum packed chestnuts, broken up into small pieces
- 100g/3陆oz sharp blue cheese, such as Gorgonzola or Stilton, cold and crumbled
Method
Put 2 teaspoons of lime juice, 2 teaspoons of orange juice, the wholegrain mustard, honey, olive oil, sesame oil and salt in a small jar and shake to mix, or whisk together in a small jug or bowl.
Put the radicchio in a large mixing bowl. Pour the dressing over and toss well. Add the chestnuts and most of the blue cheese and toss again, gently but thoroughly, then tip into a serving bowl and sprinkle the remaining blue cheese on top.
Recipe Tips
I can report that you can use walnuts rather than chestnuts very successfully here, too.
