Seasonal eating can feel monotonous during the winter months, but Whatcom and Skagit counties have a bounty of in-season fruits and vegetables year-round if you know where to look.
This root-to-leaf recipe combines some of the best seasonal produce: ripe, juicy pears and crunchy, colorful radicchio. Raw radicchio brings a fresh bite to the season, while pear and parmesan risotto is the coziest of comfort foods.
This isn’t the conventional approach to risotto, which calls for adding broth one ladle at a time. This is what I think of as “weeknight risotto.” After sautéing the aromatics and toasting the rice, I add the hot broth all at once and stir only a few times while it absorbs, freeing up time to make a side dish (or sit down with a nice glass of wine).
Crunchy radicchio salad
Ingredients
1 large head radicchio, about 12 ounces, either round Chioggia radicchio or loaf-shaped Treviso
Olive oil
3–4 tablespoons Italian vinaigrette, store-bought or homemade, or more to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Trim the woody base, core the radicchio and separate the leaves. Wash the leaves and core. Slice the core very thinly and slice the largest outer leaves into wide ribbons; these will be cooked and added to the plated risotto. Leave the rest of the leaves whole for the side dish.
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or large pot over medium-low. Add a little olive oil to warm, then add the radicchio core and ribbons with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until tender. Set aside sautéed radicchio.
Allow the remaining leaves to completely air-dry. Right before serving the risotto, pour the vinaigrette on the bottom of a wide serving platter. Add the radicchio leaves and toss lightly to coat. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and black pepper and serve with the risotto.
In the same pot used to cook the radicchio, start the risotto.
Pear and parmesan risotto
Serves 6
Ingredients
2 ripe pears (Anjou, Bartlett, Bosc or red pear)
2 cups dry Arborio rice
6 1/2 to 7 cups broth (I used chicken broth)
1 large shallot
3/4 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons butter, divided
4 ounces parmesan or Romano cheese
Warm the broth in a medium sauce pot, covered, keeping below a boil.
Finely mince the shallot. In the same Dutch oven or large pot you used for the radicchio, add 2 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Add shallot and a pinch of salt and sauté until shallot is translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes.
Add the Arborio rice and stir to coat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the edges of the rice turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add wine all at once; stir until rice has absorbed the wine.
Once wine has been absorbed, add 6 1/2 cups of heated broth all at once; stir vigorously to ensure grains of rice aren’t sticking to each other. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer for 15–18 minutes, stirring a few times to make sure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan, until rice is a few minutes shy of al dente. The risotto will still be liquidy.
In the meantime, dice both pears no larger than 1/4 inch in size. Discard the seeds and stem. (If you core the pears first, reserve the cores to make agrodolce, a sweet-and-sour Italian condiment; see recipe for apple scrap agrodolce from this column in November 2022.)
Finely grate the parmesan.
Add the pears to the risotto and stir to incorporate. Simmer for another 5–7 minutes until almost all of the liquid has been absorbed and pears are soft. If your risotto looks a little dry, add the remaining 1/2 cup broth.
Remove from heat, stir in remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and most of the parmesan, reserving a tablespoon or two per serving to garnish the plated risotto.
Ladle into bowls, top with the cooked radicchio, and garnish with parmesan to taste. Serve crunchy radicchio salad on the side.
Notes
If you tend to find raw radicchio a little too bitter, soak the leaves in cold water for half an hour before using to mellow its bitter compounds. Alternatively, you can slice the whole head of radicchio into ribbons and sauté, then serve the sautéed radicchio on the side.
This dish is versatile with wine pairings. With its roots in northern Italy, I like to pair risotto with classic northern Italian wines. Keep in mind radicchio’s characteristic bitterness and choose a wine that balances this with bright acidity and complementary fruit flavors. If you prefer white wine, serve with varieties such as Pinot Grigio, Verdicchio or wine from Soave (typically made with the Garganega grapes). If you prefer red, pair with Barbera, Nebbiolo or Dolcetto.
Hannah Green’s Root-to-Leaf column runs the first week of every month.
