In Italy, radicchio is quite popular. Usually, it is eaten grilled in olive oil, or mixed into dishes such as risotto. In recent years, it has gained popularity in the United States, but is more often eaten raw in salads. This recipe calls for radicchio di Treviso. Firm, round bitter heads of radicchio (radicchio di Verona) can be found in many supermarkets, but you will probably have to shop at a farmers' market to find the elongated radicchio di Treviso, a variety that is prized for its flavor.

Selection: Heading radicchio should have some give. If it is too firm and heavy, with leaves no longer attached to the core, it is probably over mature and won't last long. With all types, select radicchio as you would any salad green, avoiding specimens that show signs of decay such as brown-edged leaves or browning cores.

Storage: Store in a loose plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper. Radicchio keeps a few days longer than most salad greens.

(If you can't find the elongated radicchio, feel free to use whatever you can find in your grocery stores.)

From the cookbook: Fresh From the Farmers' Market by Janet Fletcher

• The classic food mag gets a makeover. Here's a letter from Editor-in-Chief Barbara Fairchild explaining the new look.
• The magazine picks the best dishes of the year, including the Indulgence of the Year, the Cuisine of the Year, the Ingredient of the Year, and the Dish of the Year.
• A slideshow on how to throw the best cocktail party this holiday season.
• Radicchio is not your average green.
• The top 20 recipes of 2007.
• They also pick the best puddings.
• If you haven't seen it, check out the Bon Appetit blog.
• More recipes: Baked Apple, Raisin, and Brown Sugar Dumplings, Fried Egg and Sausage Ciabatta Breakfast Pizzas, and lots of holidays desserts.

A couple of years ago, some friends and I had a Summer Salad Club. We stretched the bounds of the summer slightly, starting in May and going into the first weeks of September. We'd get together for a potluck dinner every few weeks, each time trying to bring a new salad that included fresh, seasonal ingredients.

I was flipping through a file folder of recipes tonight, looking for a recipe for a brie and tomato pasta sauce that I remember clipping from the newspaper last summer (I never did find it), when I stumbled across a print out that dates back to the early days of the salad club. It is for an Orzo, Arugula, Radicchio and Pine Nut salad and is from cooking.com. It is super garlicky (a feature I particularly love) and has a nice combination of textures and crunch. As we head into the end of summer, some of the delicate salad greens are coming back into the farmers markets, which are perfect for this salad. The recipe is after the jump.

You might notice that the picture above doesn't perfectly match the recipe, but I do think that basil would be a nice addition to this recipe, if you wanted to go that way.

Hot, comforting and filling, risotto is comfort food - albeit one that is a cut above a casserole or other hearty, quick-fix dish. It is not that risotto is difficult to make, but the thing that makes it special is the slow cooking and constant stirring that develops the creamy texture that is so satisfying. This Risotto with Smoked Mozzarella and Radicchio was made by Tami, from Running with Tweezers for the food blogging event, Hay Hay It's Donna Day, in which variations of Donna Hay recipes are celebrated by bloggers. This particular variation on a basic risotto comes from Food & Wine magazine. While many risottos use Parmesan as the main cheese, this one gets a deeply satisfying flavor and creamier than usual texture from smoked mozzarella cheese. The richness of such a cheesy dish is cut by the slightly bitter crunch of radicchio. The wonderful thing about risotto is that there are so many ingredients that can be used to make it that it can really be customized to your preferences. It is just a matter of getting down the basic technique and being willing to commit a few extra minutes to stirring.