Radicchio Salad w/ bacon & crab meat

Brian ordered this salad when we celebrated his birthday with dinner at Io Et Tu (translates to Me and You), a family run restaurant, now closed. The family then opened Pesto, another Italian restaurant, with both the original owner, John Varallo, and his daughter, Maria, as the head chefs.

I do not have a recipe for this, but the description in their menu reads: "Served Warm, a bitter raddichio is sautéed with bacon and crabmeat, in a creamy balsamic sauce."

I came up with this recipe by modifying a recipe I found on the Internet for warm raddichio salad with blue cheese and pecans. It did not have the crabmeat on it so I do not have an amount.

Salad:
1 head radicchio, remove outer leaves and quarter
2-3 slices bacon, cooked and crushed into small pieces
crabmeat
cracked black pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

Balsamic Dressing:
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon salt
cracked black pepper, to taste

In a small mixing bowl, combine olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, salt and cracked black pepper. Mix well. Set aside.

Remove the outer leaves and quarter the radicchio. Set it aside. Larger heads of radicchio can be cut into eighths.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and cook the bacon.

Once it reaches your desired crispiness, remove the bacon from the pan and carefully soak up some of the bacon fat with a paper towel. Leaving behind some fat to sear the radicchio.

Sear the radicchio in the bacon fat for 1-2 minutes per side. You just want it to be lightly browned and warmed.

Place the warm radicchio on a serving platter, top it with crushed bacon and crabmeat.

Drizzle everything with the balsamic dressing. Season with a tiny pinch of salt and cracked black pepper.

Serve warm. Best enjoyed immediately.

4 servings