Bitter leaves, salty cheese, sweet chestnuts: this is a winter salad that I can’t 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.

There are different varieties of radicchio from the large round lettuce-shaped radicchio chioggia to the slender stalky treviso. Most common in the UK is red chicory, an endive-shaped small radicchio. Castelfranco is a white, round radicchio and worth seeking out. Radicchio is in season during the autumn and spring, but is often farmed over the winter too, making it a fantastic winter salad option.

Store in the fridge for up to a week, but as with all leaves, it's best used when fresh.

Radicchio is generally used in salads mixed with other salad leaves. In its native Italy it is often served shredded. Alternatively, tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Raddichio is also brilliant served warm, griddled over a high heat briefly to char the edges and enhance its bittersweet flavours. Countering the bitter leaves with sweetness or creaminess, as in Nigella's radicchio and blue cheese salad, is very popular.

More radicchio recipes

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More radicchio recipes

Jerusalem artichoke and black truffle risotto

Barbecued eel with a crunchy slaw salad

Simple gnocchi with tomato sauce and winter salad

Warm salad of pancetta, sweet potato and Brussels sprouts

Spiced lamb breast with winter salad

Roast leg of pork with sweet onions and sage

Coconut and chilli beef shin pie with bitter leaf salad

Marinated spatchcock chicken with kiwi hot sauce

Sausage, radicchio and lemon gnocchi

Hot honey chicken and sweet potato traybake

Grilled radicchio and peach salad with goats' cheese

Radicchio, chestnut and blue cheese salad

Polenta lasagne with mushroom ragù

Baked cabbage rolls with braised red cabbage

Butternut squash, onion and chestnut tarte fine

Radicchio and red onion tart

Guinea fowl with fennel and grilled radicchio

Chipotle miso chicken

Iberico pork cheeks

Hand-dived scallop and monkfish skewers with potato al forno

Mackerel with currant sauce and radicchio

Raw fish salad

Steak Florentine

Sweet potato gnocchi with radicchio, parsley and ricotta

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