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Jim Dixon wrote about food for WW for more than 20 years, but these days most of his time is spent at his olive oil-focused specialty food business Wellspent Market. Jim’s always loved to eat, and he encourages his customers to cook by sending them recipes every week through his newsletter. We’re happy to have him back creating some special dishes just for WW readers.
Several years ago, sometime between Bunk Sandwiches and Pizza Jerk, Tommy Habetz turned me on to Italian fried rice. It’s a genius idea and incredibly simple: fry leftover rice in good olive oil and flavor it with the ingredients you would use for pasta.
And while here in the Veneto of North America—where almost every small farmer has joined the cult of radicchio—we mostly eat the vibrantly colored chicories raw in salads. The Italians, meanwhile, usually cook it. My first taste, in Venice almost 30 years ago and long before radicchio showed up in every grocery store in Portland, was cooked with squid ink and served over pasta. They cook it with rice in Italy, too, but usually as a soft, creamy risotto.
For this cross-cultural mashup, I like to really fry the rice, cooking it by itself undisturbed in a hot skillet until it gets a nice tahdig-like crust that gives the dish a little crunch. The classic Italian sofrito of onion, celery, and carrot provide a flavor base, and the salty umami of the Parmigiano and spicy sweetness of the hot honey temper the chicory bitterness.
Recipe
2 cups cooked leftover rice*
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, sliced
1 small carrot, cut into roughly ¼-inch cubes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small head radicchio, 2–3 cups thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, crushed
Kosher-style sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and hot honey to serve
*That container of takeout rice in the back of the refrigerator is perfect.
Heat a 9- or 10-inch skillet over medium high for a few minutes, add one tablespoon of the olive oil, and tilt the pan so it covers the bottom. Add the rice and spread into a single layer, but don’t stir. Let it cook without stirring for 4–5 minutes or until it develops a light brown crust. Stir and spread into a single layer again, and cook for another 2–3 minutes.
Push the rice to the side of the skillet and add the onion, celery, and carrot to the bare spot in the middle. Add the other tablespoon of olive oil along with the fennel, black pepper, and salt. Stir everything together and cook for a few minutes or until the onions get translucent. Add the garlic, radicchio, and vinegar and cook for another few minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat, transfer to a serving bowl, and top with a generous dusting of the Parmigiano and a drizzle of the hot honey.
