Radicchio, celeriac and blood orange salad

Winter

The way we think about flavour changes as we get older. Bitter leaves, such as chicory and radicchio, were once unforgivably abrasive, their offence measurable by trajected distance from my plate. I still receive these sour messages from my mouth, but I’ve begun to process them as pleasantly unusual, often complicated and appealingly moreish instead. You also learn, if you like to cook, how to balance them properly, alongside other flavours that complement, regulate, support or harmonise their qualities, in exactly the way blood oranges and celeriac do in this lovely winter salad.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

¼ firm radicchio
¼ celeriac, peeled and shaved into ribbons
2 blood oranges, peeled and sliced into 1cm (½in) rounds
3–4 thyme sprigs, leaves stripped
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Remove any dull, dusty or discoloured outer leaves from the radicchio, then roughly shred it. Wash it gently in very cold water, then spin-dry. Place in a bowl and scatter in the celeriac ribbons.

Tumble the rounds of juicy orange through the radicchio and celariac and add all but a scattering of the thyme leaves. Trickle in half the olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.

Carefully mix, then turn everything out onto a serving platter or divide evenly between individual plates.

Trickle the salad with the remaining olive oil, sprinkle with the last of the thyme and serve at once.

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