Radicchio Salad with Roasted Squash, and Bacon Walnut Crumbles
Sharing with you another favorite fall salad, and a great option for Thanksgiving Day! This Radicchio Salad with Roasted Squash and Bacon Walnut Crumbles is similar in style to my recent Brussels Sprout Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Pecorino but this time more of a bitter with sweet, salty, and crunchiness to it. This just might be the Thanksgiving Salad my family is eating, as we all devoured every bite.
As you will see with both salads, I stick to a very simple method of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and good olive oil for the dressing. This is how we eat 95% of our salads whether it is with radicchio, Brussels sprout leaves, romaine, or especially kale. That being said if you want to jazz up your dressing, try whisking together those same components but add in some dijon mustard or maple syrup or miso, maybe swap out the lemon juice for sherry or red-wine vinegar.
To toss this salad, I suggest using your hands that way you make sure every leaf is fully coated. Then sample the salad before you begin adding the squash, bacon, and walnuts. You want the leaves and dressing at this point to taste so good that you would stop and eat this right now. Possibly you need more lemon juice, or olive oil, freshly ground pepper is your friend with radicchio.
Add those salty crunchy bits and toss. Then fold in your roasted squash. I prefer to let my squash cool a bit, I don’t want it cold, but I also don’t want the squash hot to where it will wilt my leaves.
Now top with more crunchiness. The idea is to toss, and add layers. Think of salad like nachos. Every bite should have every ingredient. Nobody likes getting to the bottom of nachos where you just have plain dry chips! The same with salad leaves. And as always, add more at the end for serving.
And here we go, my #1 Thanksgiving Day Salad!
Radicchio Salad with Roasted Squash and Bacon Crumbles
Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
1 small butternut or kabocha squash, peeled, 3/4” diced
1 tablespoon maple syrup, optional
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more to taste
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 slices of bacon, diced
1 1/2 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 heads radicchio, broken into individual leaves, larger ones torn in half
1 lemon, halved
1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino, plus more for serving
1 cup panko bread crumbs
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, if needed
STEPS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the butternut squash on a sheet pan. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, the maple syrup, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss. Roast the squash for about 20 minutes, turning once, until tender. Remove the squash from the hot pan to allow to slightly cool.
In the mean time, place a medium skillet over medium heat, add diced bacon and cook until crispy. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and rest on a paper towel lined plate. Add the walnuts to the skillet with bacon fat and allow to slightly brown and toast for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Remove the walnuts with a slotted spoon and add to the bacon crumbles. Add your panko bread crumbs to the same skillet, if there is not any bacon fat left in the skillet, add 2 tablespoons of butter and allow to melt before adding bread crumbs. Toast your breadcrumbs in the bacon fat or melted butter for about 5 minutes until nice and golden brown, shaking the pan occasionally. Remove the breadcrumbs from the pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, toss together your radicchio leaves, 1/2 lemon juiced, 1/4 cup olive oil, a big pinch of salt and several grinds of freshly ground pepper. I like to toss these bigger leaves with my hands to really make sure they get coated. I’ll grab a leave to taste, and adjust the olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon from there. You want the salad to taste great right away. So depending on where things are at, I might add in the second half of lemon juiced.
Add the toasted walnuts, bacon crumbles, 1/4 cup toasted panko bread crumbs, and 1/2 cup Pecorino to the salad and toss together. Gently fold in the roasted squash. To serve, top with another 1/4 cup toasted panko bread crumbs and extra finely grated Pecorino.
Note - you will have extra toasted panko breadcrumbs, feel free to add more or save for another time.