wine glazed radicchio

if anyone remembers my fateful words of foreboding the night all blizzarding hell broke loose, i should tell you that they were rightfully ominous. it wasn't just the new york airports that were remarkably inept at dealing with new england winter weather, but the entire northeast. getting a flight to mexico from anywhere within a 300 mile radius was, for all intents and purposes, impossible.

so we, uh, drove to georgia and flew from there.

i have little to say about our impromptu 15 hour family road trip except that i learned that there is, in fact, a town in pennsylvania called "intercourse" and that over the duration of the trip there were two (2 [II]) lost passports, one set of keys locked in the car, one lost cellphone, a dead GPS and several airport-confiscated bottles of hot sauce.

oh, and we had to sacrifice my sister to the amtrak gods, but i don't want to talk about that because i'm still deeply embittered.

a belated christmas dinner photo. radicchio plated
alongside a cherry-glazed roast pork. notice santa hat.

sometimes that can be a good thing though. case in point: radicchio (i'm sorry, i know that was an atrocious attempt at a segue). radicchio, or chicory, is a pretty polarizing vegetable, as far as they go. and to the best of my knowledge, you can't cook the bitterness out of it the way you can with kale or cabbage. you can, however, mellow it out a little, balancing it with a sweet and sour wine reduction, streaked with honey and balsamic.

it's still uncompromisingly acerbic, at the heart of the matter, but rounded out--softened slightly with just enough sugar and acid to make it sparkle. this is radicchio with a backbone. shower it with freshly grated parmesan and serve as a side, or top it with toasted nuts and a fried egg (i'll bet you knew that was coming) for a beautiful plum-toned one-bowl dinner that, despite being a little rough around the edges, you might find charmingly bittersweet.

wine-glazed radicchio
adapted from pithy and cleaver
serves 1, or 2 as a side dish

• 1 cup red wine
• olive oil
• 1 shallot
• 2 heads radicchio (about 1 lb total)
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• optional for serving: freshly grated parmesan, fried eggs

in a small saucepan, boil down the wine until it reduces by half. meanwhile, remove any grungy outer layers from radicchio, core and slice thinly. finely chop shallot.

in a large frying pan, heat olive oil and add shallot. cook until transparent, then add radicchio, reduced wine, balsamic, and honey. turn up to medium-high heat and cook until most of the wine evaporates and radicchio has softened (but isn’t mush.) season with salt and pepper to taste, top with grated parmesan and a fried egg or two.