Hallo, Darlings!!
While grocery
shopping online have you ever mistakenly bought a Radicchio instead of a red cabbage. I did so today because I was rushing
through the selection of leafy vegetables and shopping by sight and not reading.
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Red Cabbage on the left. Red Radicchio on the right.
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Well, my first thought after I felt the little rascal in its plastic bag
was, “Geez, this is the smallest red cabbage in the world”.” The store had to
be joking”. Then I removed it from the bag, and in my surprise I thought it was
an exotic cabbage of some kind. I then was ready to seek a refund because I could
not have possibly bought this thing.
But, I did. My grocery list said so. And this being the case, I decided
to keep it, and to discover just what type of cabbage family it belonged to.
I discovered it was not a cabbage at all, but instead was Italian chicory,
and that it has a very bitter taste. To my pallet a raw Radicchio
is very, very bitter.
Now that I knew what I ordered, I now needed to know what to do with it. Because
it was pretty, I considered dumping it in hot wax, and preserving it on an end
table. Smile. Instead, I searched the almighty
world wide net, for a suitable recipe. After going through what seemed like an
ended array of recipes for roasted, grilled, sauté, baked and salad Radicchio, I finally found one that stated, “Torta
di Radicchio (Radicchio Cake with White Chocolate Glaze)”.
I was intrigued. I was excited. I had to make it, but lo and behold, I did
not have all of the ingredients. D__n it.
However, like
any good cook, I would not be out done by a recipe just because I was lacking
and ingredient or two. It was now …Substitution Time.
And, oh my
darlings, the results turned into one of the most delicious snack cakes that my
husband and I ever ingested.
Check out my version
of a Torta di Radicchio, I call it: Radicchio Cake
with Ginger Glaze, and the recipe is below,
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Radicchio Cake with Ginger Glaze
Ingredients
1 stick (100 grams) softened butter,
divided
1/3 cup (125 grams)
granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown
sugar
1 lemon, zest and juice
5 ounces (150 grams) head of round
red radicchio
3 eggs
1/4 of a teaspoon pre-ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (125 grams) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Ginger
Glaze Topping
Directions
- Heat
oven to 350° F and prepare a cake tin (8-inches in diameter) by greasing
it with a teaspoon of the butter and lining it with baking paper.
- Bring
a saucepan of water to boil, add 2 teaspoons of the sugar and all the
lemon juice to the water. Pull off the radicchio leaves in from their head
and blanch in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain very well, then chop
finely.
- Cream
the remaining butter and sugar in a bowl, adding the eggs one at a time,
beating well after each addition until smooth and creamy. Add the lemon
zest, vanilla, nutmeg and then gently fold in the flour and baking powder.
When just combined, add the chopped radicchio.
- Pour
into prepared cake tin and bake for roughly 45 minutes or until the cake
is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the tin.
Ginger Glaze Topping
6 tablespoons milk
¼ cup sliced ginger
2 cups confectioners' sugar
Chopped candied ginger, for garnish
Directions
1.
Heat milk and sliced ginger in a saucepan over medium heat
2.
when began milk bubble
remove from heat and let cool;
3.
Then discard ginger, or make a pot of milk tea with it.
4.
Stir confectioners'
sugar in the ginger milk.
5.
Finally, Drizzle over cooled warm c Radicchio Cake.
6.
Sprinkle chopped candied ginger on top, optional
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This is not a
quick and an easy cake recipe, but it is so good that it can be considered a
labor …of love.
Click to enlarge images.
Enjoy!
And until next time,
Chow, Darlings!
Download the PDF.
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