How to make pasta with radicchio, pear, walnut and feta

Radicchio's bitter leaves add interesting flavours to this spring pasta dish.

Pasta with radicchio
Pasta with radicchio
(Image credit: Melanie Johnson)

'Radicchio's bitter leaves add interesting flavours to this spring pasta dish,' says our kitchen garden cook, Melanie Johnson.

Ingredients

Serves 4

  • 400g pasta, such as fusilli
  • Olive oil
  • 2 radicchio, cut into wedges
  • 50g walnuts, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed or grated
  • 2 pears, peeled, cored and diced
  • 100ml double cream
  • 200g feta, crumbled
  • A small bunch parsley leaves, chopped
  • 75g parmesan, grated

Method

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions.

Add a splash of olive oil to a large frying pan set on a high heat. Cook the radicchio wedges for a few minutes on each side until charred, seasoning them as you go. Remove them to a plate with tongs.

Gently toast the walnut pieces in the same frying pan. Add the crushed garlic and pear pieces and toss for a couple of minutes before pouring in the cream and heating through. Remove from the heat.

Drain the pasta and stir through a little olive oil and seasoning before adding it to the large frying pan and tossing everything together. Return the radicchio to the pan, crumble over the feta and gently mix.

Divide your pasta with radicchio between plates and scatter with chopped parsley and grated parmesan.


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Melanie Johnson
Melanie Johnson is a food writer, photographer and stylist