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Treviso, Pomegranate & Walnuts

By: Chris Cosentino

The idea of a table on Thanksgiving without a salad to cut the richness of the meats and starches is just wrong. This salad is a perfect balance of sweet and bitter with the radicchio, pears and the toasted walnuts rounding out the salad. A crisp vinaigrette of red wine and pomegranate molasses and the crunchy tart pomegranate seeds is not only delicious, but beautiful on the table.

Treviso is a type of radicchio that is long in shape, similar in appearance to endive. If it's not available, use any variety you can find. Chioggia is the round version that is available most of the year. 

Ingredients

Treviso radicchio

  • 4 heads Treviso radicchio
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 1 tablespoons pure olive oil
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 Fuyu persimmons, peeled & cut in 1/6ths
  • ¼ cup chives, cut into 1” batons
  • 1 pomegranate, equaling 1/2 cups pomegranate seeds
  • 3 tablespoons vinaigrette (recipe below)
  • Wedge of Pecorino Romano cheese for shaving

Pomegranate Vinaigrette

  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate syrup
  • 1/3 cup Zinfandel vinegar
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • To taste, kosher salt
  • To taste, black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Aleppo chili

Treviso radicchio

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). In a small bowl, toss the walnuts with the olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread the walnuts on a small rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven until dry and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool. Once cool rough chop to make it easier to eat.
Using a large knife, split each head of radicchio in half lengthwise. Remove the core from each radicchio half with a V-shaped cut. Put all of the radicchio in a large bowl. Peel and cut the persimmon in 1/8ths.
Remove the seeds from the pomegranate. Cut the pomegranate in half crosswise. Working over a deep bowl filled halfway with water, place the fruit half in your hand with the exposed seeds facing down and your fingers slightly apart. Using a wooden spoon, rap firmly on the pomegranate to release the seeds into the water. Repeat with the other half.
Add the pomegranate seeds, persimmons, toasted walnuts & chive batons to the radicchio and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the top and mix gently to coat evenly. Using a vegetable peeler, shave a few pecorino curls over the top and serve right away.
In a mixing bowl start with the pomegranate syrup, red wine vinegar, salt and Aleppo chili, slowly whisk in the extra virgin olive oil then sit in a non-reactive container until ready.

Pomegranate Vinaigrette

In a mixing bowl start with the pomegranate syrup, red wine vinegar, salt and Aleppo chili, slowly whisk in the extra virgin olive oil then sit in a non-reactive container until ready.