Begin as you mean to go on. If it has crossed your mind that this might be a good time to get fit and lose a bit of weight, then consider the winter salad. If it hasn’t, then consider the winter salad anyway.

Red-leafed radicchio is one of my favourite winter salad leaves. There are two main types in Britain: the first is rounded with thick, crimson leaves and known simply as radicchio; the second is longer and more delicate, the slender white fronds tipped with crimson, and is often known as trevise or trevigiano, as it is grown around the north Italian town of Treviso. If you have the round radicchio, slice it finely and scatter through salads and into soups and pasta. If you have the latter, lucky you — it’s so exotic.

Team it with the curly, frothy leaves of frisée for a little bitterness, add some earthy beetroot, refreshing grapefruit, rich parmesan and a citrussy dressing. Add a little grilled chicken, some prosciutto, roast parsnips or a little grilled salmon and you’re off to a very good start for the year.

Ingredients

Serves 4

Prep 10 min

4 cooked beetroot, quartered
2 radicchio or 4 trevise
1 frisée lettuce
1 grapefruit
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Sea salt and black pepper
Small block of parmesan

METHOD

Separate the radicchio and frisée leaves, wash and tear into bite-sized pieces. Remove skin and pith from the grapefruit and cut into small segments, saving the juices. In a bowl, whisk the olive oil, vinegar, sea salt and pepper together, then add the grapefruit and a tablespoon or two of the juices. Toss the radicchio and frisée in the dressing and arrange on serving plates. Toss the beets in any remaining dressing and tuck in around the radicchio. Cut the parmesan into thin shards with a vegetable peeler and scatter over.

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