Minestra di Radicchio

The markets have started offering radicchio again. On the left you see the round radicchio di Chioggia and on the right is radicchio di Treviso (Chioggia and Treviso, being cities in Italy's Veneto region) I think radicchio is such a beautiful vegetable to see at the market. It's as ruby-red and glorious raw as it is grey and muted cooked. Maybe that's why there are so many recipes for radicchio in salad. The taste, however, is wonderful when it's cooked and I like to make radicchio soup on cool fall afternoons. I believe it's really nutritious too. You can make the soup more beautiful with a sprinkling of parsley and Parmesan. Here's the recipe:

1 carrot, peeled & roughly chopped
1 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
1 rib celery, roughly chopped
2 ozs pancetta (optional), roughly chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
6 cups chicken (or light meat) stock
1 large potato, peeled and cut into a ½-inch dice
½ cup of diced ham (1/2-inch dice)
1 medium head of radicchio, thinly sliced
1 wedge of Parmesan cheese and a grater to pass around
salt to taste

Place the carrot, onion, garlic, celery and optional pancetta in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until everything is reduced to tiny pieces. Do not puree! In a stock pot, pour in the oil and sautee the vegetable mixture over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Music to sautee all those vegetables by: "Nutrition" by The Dead Milkmen. Pour in the chicken stock, bring to a boil and add the diced potatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes or until tender then add the ham and radicchio. Simmer another 2-3 minutes until the radicchio has just wilted. Take off heat, taste for salt, sprinkle on the parsley and let guests sprinkle Parmesan on top.