This Vanilla persimmon radicchio salad is made with Chioggia radicchio, tender goat lettuce and sweet Vanilla persimmon. Paired with creamy burrata and a fruity dressing it makes a delicious and gorgeous light winter meal.
I like simple recipes that are colourful, healthy and packed with flavour. You can have this winter salad on your table in less than 10 minutes. No cooking or baking involved makes it great for a mid-week meal or a lovely side dish.
This salad’s highlights are the persimmons. Persimmons are these gorgeous sweet fruits in an orange to red colour. They can be soft, melt in your mouth, or firm and crisp like an apple. In the lands of persimmons (or kakis) like China, Japan and Korea, they know more than 2000 different types of this golden fruit. Amazing!
I only know three or four varieties. Wink. When I was a little girl, I always had the soft ones. They were delicious only after turning jam-soft and dark orange. Today, I buy only the firm ones. To illustrate, the first ones are kind of flat and a bit square and the second ones have a spherical shape. The spherical ones are called Vanilla kaki persimmons and they are my favourite.
Vanilla persimmon
The reason I love these firm Vanilla persimmons so much is, they won’t give you cottonmouth, like the Hachiya-type, the soft persimmon. Also, they are sweet, with a light pear, apricot and vanilla note. Lovely. And, you can simply eat it like an apple, it’s perfect to slice and a great addition to salads, fruit salads, desserts and side dishes.
The thing you should know about persimmons is, that the unripe persimmons contain tannins. As a result, they cause that fuzzy and dry mouth feeling when you bite in them. They are so astringent that the insides of your cheeks will meet. Wink. By choosing the soft persimmons you have to be very careful. In fact, look for a jam-soft one with a dark-orange colour. That’s a whole other story.
At this point, I don’t want you to be afraid of persimmons. Go and give it a try. They look gorgeous and they taste delicious. Also, they have a high level of fiber, they are rich in manganese, provitamin A beta carotene, Vitamine C and iron.
Dark red radicchio
I also love radicchio and its wine-red colour. Besides, it pairs great with persimmons. Radicchio belongs to the chicory family. It contains plenty of the bitter substance intybin, which has a beneficial effect on our blood vessels and digestion. Besides looking gorgeous and colourful, it is also packed with important fiber and minerals, as well as vitamin A and C.
However, it really doesn’t matter which radicchio you pick. It can be Treviso, Treviso tardivo, Chioggia (that’s the one I used), Castelfranco or any other. They will all make a gorgeous radicchio salad. It is also a great choice to pair with everything from sausage to tangy cheese to porridge or pasta, just like this Camembert-pear farfalle.
Additionally, choosing the right salad dressing can make a big difference. I made a sweet and fruity salad dressing by combining vinegar, olive oil, some honey and pomegranate balsamic glaze. Because the pomegranate balsamic glaze has a syrup consistency with a sour, sweet and fruity flavour, makes every salad sing. Wink. Perfect for the Vanilla persimmon radicchio salad.
If you love salads, then you might like these salad recipes as well: golden zucchini salad, raw asparagus salad with meatballs, a colourful sweet potato peach salad or this beetroot kiwi salad.
Ingredients for 2-3 portions of Vanilla persimmon radicchio salad:
- 1 small radicchio head
- 2 handfuls of goat lettuce
- 1 Vanilla persimmon (cut into slices)
- 1 burrata
- 10 ml vinegar
- 10 ml olive oil
- 1 tsp of honey
- a pinch of sea salt
- 2 tsp of pomegranate balsamic glaze
To begin, wash the goat lettuce, radicchio and persimmon. Leave the lettuce and radicchio in a colander to drain. Then, cut the top of the persimmon off, flip the fruit, so that the cut side point left or right of you and slice it into 2-3 mm thick round slices.
Afterwards, prepare the salad dressing. In a jar, combine vinegar, olive oil, honey, a pinch of salt and balsamic glaze. Stir with a spoon until the honey dissolves.
Place the lettuce into a bowl, cut the radicchio leaves into thirds and add them to the bowl, too. Drizzle with half of the dressing and toss.
Finally, arrange the lettuce and radicchio onto a large serving plate, top with chunks of burrata and sweet persimmon slices. Finish with a drizzle of the dressing. Serve this Vanilla persimmon radicchio salad as a light dinner or pair it with meat or fish for Sunday lunch.
Enjoy.
