What’s Burning: Crespelle con Radicchio e Morlacco del Grappa

Here in the Veneto region of Italy’s northeast, where Prosecco — fast becoming the world’s preferred sparkling wine — hails, comes another joy that springs forth from the earth to la tavola: radicchio rosso (red chicory).

A winter vegetable, its leaves range from deep red to crimson with a well-defined midriff of snow white. Radicchio rosso, with its signature bitter taste, comes in several different varieties with each distinct to their growing zones: Treviso, Verona and Chioggia.

Whether in pinzimonio — dipped in a vinaigrette and eaten fresh — added to a risotto, or rolled inside a crespella (crepe) covered in besciamella (white sauce) and cheese then baked in the oven, radicchio rosso is a great friend to have at the ready in the kitchen during wintertime around these here parts of the Bel Paese.

Now, I’ve got radicchio rosso in the ice-a-box, but lack the culinary acumen to pull off this delicious first-course dish in my galley; so, I take the easy way out and head down to il Ceppo, my fave gastronomy shop along Corso Palladio in Vicenza, where I pick up and carry home a healthy portion of Crespelle con Radicchio e Morlacco del Grappa.

I just pop the aluminum tray in the oven, pre-heated to 185 C, and wait until the crepes brown slightly and the white sauce and morlacco cheese merge and begin to ooze out.

What's Burning: Crespelle con Radicchio e Morlacco | ©Tom Palladio Images

Plated, I’m pairing the dish with another local favorite, Il Brolo from Società Agricola Colle di Bugano in nearby Longare. A Tai Rosso (f.n.a. Tocai) varietal grown in the Colli Berici (Berici Hills) that surround Vicenza, it’s ruby-red in color, intense and has pronounced notes of strawberry and cherry. Dry and harmonious, Il Brolo is slightly tannic with a pleasant bitter note at the finish.