Rachel Roddy's Radicchio Roast Chicken Recipe | A kitchen in Rome

Radicchio: one word for a whole world of red and white leaves. As always, it started wild and spontaneous, with the bitter Cichorium intybus, which grows all over the planet and goes by many names. Particular cultivation and development took place in northern Italy: Veneto, Trentino, Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

The red leaves as we know them began in the early 1900s, when Belgian and Italian agronomists developed a technique called imbianchimento (bleaching, bleaching, or pre-forcing). Extracted from the ground and placed in water in dark sheds, the plants' chlorophyll production is inhibited, causing them to lose their green pigmentation and develop dark red, white-veined, sturdy leaves. Genetic selection, local competition and time have seen distinctive varieties develop, with varying degrees of earthy bitterness, each taking the name of the places where they were developed. The radicchio grown in these places is protected, but of course it can be grown wherever you want to plant it.

radicchio di Chioggia round-headed, resembling cabbage > has burgundy leaves with trailing white veins, which can be smoother or more wrinkled, depending on the strength of the head. Chioggia is bitter, but also creamy, and good grated or torn in a green salad or tossed with pears and cheese.

Radicchio rosso di Treviso (another town in Veneto) also has burgundy leaves, but with thick, white ribs that stretch out and overlap into a point, which means the whole thing looks like a ball plump and oblong. Then there is the radicchio tardivo. Also oblong, but with slender, reddish-purple leaves that, through a two-stage growth process, do not curl to a point, but escape and somewhat resemble an enthusiastic flower or the tentacles of a creature navy.< /p>

Treviso and tardivo are crisp and, though bitter, ideal for a salad with the right dressing; in the case of the expensive, rippling tardivo, some feel it's ridiculous not to show off those pear-and-cheese, or orange-and-fennel tentacles. However, I think that in all three cases, and despite the fact that this means they turn from bright red to brown, cooking brings out the best in them. This is because it tempers the bitterness, becomes crispy, sweet and velvety, and brings out the warm, nutty side.

There are many ways. Cut into wedges and cook on an oiled baking sheet until tender with crispy points, or cover with cheese béchamel for a gratin. Grilled, broiled, sautéed with onion for pasta or grated and tossed into risotto - all good ways. Or roast with chicken, which is this week's recipe, and my favorite dinner this week.

Roast chicken with radicchio

Serves 4

1 small chicken (about 1.2 kg) in the shell or half a large chicken or 8 thighs olive oil Salt 2 small radicchio heads, each cut into wedges

Rub the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Put it skin side down in an oiled dish large enough to hold the radicchio when you add it later. If using a spatchcocked or half bird, press it down for as much contact as possible.

Place the radicchio wedges in a bowl and toss with a few tablespoons of olive oil and a little salt.

Roast chicken backbone at 200C (180C fan)/390F/Gas 6 for 25 minutes , then turn it over so that it is now breast side up and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Add the radicchio, arrange it around and under the chicken, and return to the oven for the last 15 minutes, turning the radicchio once halfway through cooking.