A Trip & A Trick

Short and sweet.

A trip needn’t be to a far away land to be edifying. Then again, a trip needn’t take long to be to a far away place.

The Catskills are a trip, that’s for sure.

They’re the home of the Borscht Belt and the Anti-Rent War and sublimely beautiful. It’s like walking 100 years into the past with your funny Uncle Morty. It’s hard not to feel relaxed up there.

And so that’s what we did, relaxed. Relaxed with wine. Relaxed with bocce, croquette and Trivial Pursuit. Relaxed while relaxing. Relaxed while cooking and grilling and eating and shopping.

And so, you’ll have to forgive me that there are no pictures of the absolutely essential recipe that I’ve been told I must broadcast to the wider world.  I was so relaxed I forgot to take pictures (it’s not an attractive dish anyway, all those dark colors and char-y bits).

Grilled Radicchio.

Here’s what you do: Take a radicchio, clean it and then split it into quarters. Make sure each piece has a bit of core to hold it all together. Figure on two quarters (or half a radicchio) per person. Set aside.

Chop up a clove of garlic per person, mince it finely and put it into a large dish with a cover that will accomodate all the radicchio once it comes off the grill. Add a large glug of good balsamic vinegar, a healthy glug of olive oil, some salt and about a tea spoon of something sweet; sugar, honey, molasses, any of them would work. Set aside.

Grill the radicchio quarters until the outside leaves are nice and charred, immediately remove from the grill to the covered dish, put the cover on and shake it all about so that everything is coated. Set aside until the rest of dinner’s ready. Enjoy.

I can’t remember where I got this idea from. I suspect it was from Martha or Mario, but I just can’t be sure. What I do know is that this is a real winner. The fire and the sweet vinegar mellow the bitter radicchio and turn it into something magical. It’s especially good with steak.

And so that’s it. Summer’s “over.” Poof! Just like that. I’m kind of relieved to be honest. No more travelling. No more weddings. Just a month of weekends at home with the year’s best produce.

I can’t wait to get back into the kitchen. What are you looking forward to cooking now that we can all breathe a sigh of relief and sit back and enjoy the cooler weather?

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