The bitter leaves of winter, such as chicory and radicchio, are great. Radicchio is especially good value for money because it is so tightly packed you will find you have a plethora of leaves for a salad. Versatile, too, as they are delicious roasted. Chicory is also wonderful braised, and both chicory and radicchio respond well to pickling.
Pomegranates and satsumas come into season around the same time and make very good partners, with their contrasting notes of sharp and sweet. This salad is ideal eaten with warm flatbread or pitta to mop up all the juices. It would also make a lovely starter (appetizer).
My greatest friend Imogen tells me how her mum would keep her and her sisters quiet as children by giving them a quarter of a pomegranate and a pin, and leaving them to pick out the seeds individually for eating – resulting in hours of concentration for them and hours of peace for her mum.
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