Radicchio bruschetta recipe and a tribute to purple food

For MoFo goth day, I thought I'd enjoy a spate of purple food, for no other reason than purple is my favourite colour. And what says beautiful purple food better than figs? I thought that would also fit nicely with my student-friendly theme, as while I was contemplating their purple wonder, they were but £1 a box in my local supermarket -- a very student-friendly price indeed.

I bought a load and ate them mainly in salads and with oatcakes and Nutcrafter's Frawmage:

When I was contemplating writing this purple extravaganza pre-MoFo, I was also due to go to a vegan baking class that involved making fig tarts, so I thought I'd throw that into my fig-based post too. I thought I'd take loads of pictures and tell you about all the baking stuff I'd learnt.

Well, that was the plan anyway.

Since my figgy dreams in last month, the short-but-sweet fig season has ended and they're back up to non-student-suiting prices, and the baking class wasn't a winner. I was pretty disappointed with the whole thing for a number of reasons, so I'm not going to write about it here.

Here's a quick look at the tarts we made anyway:

They tasted pretty decent, and were pretty much the only thing I liked about the whole experience, apart from meeting some lovely people who were also doing the class.

So, no figs from me today. Instead, I'm sharing a very purple recipe that I made up when the vegetables from my box scheme brought a head of radicchio to my doorstep.

If you're not a fan of bitter vegetables, then I don't think this recipe is going to convince you. If you are, get yourself some nice wholemeal bread and tuck into this most autumnal of recipes. It's a fairly simple recipe as it stands, but if you wanted to bulk it out into a light meal for two people (and decrease the relative bitterness of the radicchio), you could stir in a can of butter beans or some vegan sausages, and up the red wine a bit.

Radicchio bruschetta
Services one

Ingredients
One small red onion, finely chopped
One large garlic clove, finely sliced
Half a head of radicchio, sliced into 1cm-2cm strips
The leaves from four to five sprigs of thyme
The leave from a stick of rosemary, chopped
Glug or two of red wine (optional)
Large handful of walnuts, chopped into chunks
Sweetener to taste (agave syrup or muscovado sugar would do the trick)
Two slices of chunky wholemeal bread

How you do it
Sweat the red onion in a little oil until cooked
Add the garlic, thyme and rosemary and cook for another couple of minute
Add the radicchio and continue cooking until it has wilted - another five minutes or so
Add the red wine and sweetener, if using, now and leave to bubble away into a syrupy sauce
Toast the bread, and top with the radicchio mixture
Top with the walnuts.