Pasta with Radicchio, Walnuts and Black Pepper
Meaty walnuts and pleasantly bitter radicchio balance out the rich Parmesan sauce in this weeknight friendly pasta dish featured on this week’s episode.
- Makes4 servings
- Cook Time40 minutes
- 4
The simplicity of this pasta dish belies its deliciousness and elegance. Radicchio, a member of the chicory family, is much loved in Venice, Italy, where home cook Francesco Bernardi taught us his recipe. Chopped radicchio is browned in garlic-infused olive oil, its flavor becoming rich and complex and its texture softening slightly. The layers of pleasantly bitter notes—from the radicchio and the toasted walnuts—are perfectly balanced by the nuttiness and umami of Parmesan, the bright tang of lemon juice and the pungency of black pepper.
Don’t begin cooking the radicchio until after the pasta has been drained because the radicchio takes only a couple of minutes in the skillet. If it waits in the pan for the pasta to finish, the radicchio will lose its texture. Also, don’t stir the radicchio too often during browning so it caramelizes nicely, creating compounds that build depth of flavor.
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