Radicchio pesto parcels
It's the tail-end of Veguary - my annual flirtation with temporary vegetarianism - and I've not written much about the food that's been involved. This is in no small part because my freezer is full of vegetable curry, and I've spent a frankly unreasonable amount of time trying to perfect a vegetable moussaka that doesn't rely on lentils for bulk and body. More on that later, but if you've got any suggestions that take less then two hours, I'm listening.These little puff pastry radicchio parcels are one of the successes from Veguary 2014, and pull off that neat trick of being quite impressive for almost no effort. Although the bitterness of the radicchio itself isn't for all palates.This is heavily adapted from Silver Spoon's Radicchio en Croûte recipe (p.553). For that, you basically just grill small radicchio whole, and bake them in pastry with salt and pepper. It's tasty if a little plain, and works best with very small heads of radicchio. If you've only got the large ones, you're best slicing them in half.The pesto and cheese are there to knock the edges of the bitterness, and make it just a little richer as a main course.
Ingredients:
- A head of radicchio
- Puff pastry (about 200g per half)
- Pesto, I used a simple red
- Mature cheddar
- An egg, for brushing