Grilled Radicchio Salad with Feta

August is blue. Blue, because winds turned North-West and South-West from South, saying goodbye heat and bringing back more typical weather, some rain and fresh air. Blue, because blueberries are devoured in droves. Blue, because it's a long wait for some who left the country.

Magazine Puur had a fun recipe with grilled radicchio and feta. In my cupboard I rediscovered the balsamico that one of my friends gave to me last summer. August may well also be salad month. I have to make this one again soon - my camera put new data over this salad's picture.

Grilled Radicchio Salad with Feta

Serves 1-2

1 head of radicchio, quartered
1/2-1 red onion, thinly sliced
200 g feta, crumbled
parsley
olive oil
pepper and salt
3 tablespoons balsamico vinegar

Grill the salad, about 2 minutes on each side or until the leaves are browned.

Wash and chop parsley, slice onion, crumble parsley.

Get out a lovely bowl, place salad ingredients, season, drizzle with the oil and vinegar.

I added one tomato, peeled, deseeded, sliced.

Serve and cheer up!

A Favorite: Radicchio

I can't quite call it an old favorite, this radicchio, because I never ever had or saw it as a child, although it is akin to our Belgian endive. But it is an old favorite in these pages, and I've made a whole rice risotto with radicchio last Sunday which two impromptu guests enjoyed.

I have two pre-Xmas dinners lined up in the coming weeks where I'll don the apron and serve dinner to friends, one for four, the other for seven people. Contrary to previous years, I haven't had time to plan ahead and prepare, let alone try out. I'm breezily happy I have time to shop for produce. Stick to simplicity, G. advised.

For the hors d'oeuvres or appetizers, I may as well resort to favorites that I can prepare in advance: why not a risotto like this one. Back in 2006, I followed the recipe at Lucullian Delights, Ilva's famous blog from rural Tuscany that got me started with blogging and which I still follow. My old take can be found here.

Radicchio salad for October

Believe me: lunch salads in restaurants are not always a picknick. Even though the menu may suggest prettily arranged mixed veggies, chances are great that green lettuce comes drowned in ready-made dressing and tomato slices are so thin and non-existent, that the concept of "mixed salad" is altogether questionable.

Save for a few tried places, there's no better value for money in the salad department than having a bit of improvization in your own kitchen to come up with the Real Deal.

Radicchio salad for October

Serves 2-4

1 head of radicchio lettuce, chopped
big handful of parsley, roughly chopped
300 g cooked chickpeas
1 tin of sardines
generous sprinkling of sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon tamari
3 tablespoons carthame oil

Combine all ingredients, step out, and have this salad in the October sun.