Warm Salad of Radicchio & White Beans, #33 on Gourmet's List of 50 Women Game Changers: Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer

 Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer are #33 on Gourmet's List of 50 Women Game Changers.  Gourmet calls them food royalty.  Hirsheimer co-founded Saveur and Hamilton ran the test kitchen at Saveur.  Mary of One Perfect Bite has organized a group of bloggers to cook and post their way through the list. 

Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer are also known for their collection of Canal House Cookbooks.  I must admit I knew nothing about these two women until I learned of Gourmet's 50 Women Game Changer.  I chose to make a dish from their most recent book, Volume No 7 because as soon as I opened the book I was hooked.  I first read a review of the book on Amazon and knew I needed to get my hands on this book.  It's a beautiful  book with thick paper, gorgeous photos and it reads like a novel...just like the reviewer said.

I chose the recipe that I did because of the way they described their very special bottle of acet balsamico tradizionale.  My bottle does not nearly have the price tag, but it is quite good. 

Many of the recipes are very simple.  Like the warm salad of radiccho and white beans.  For this recipe you use 1/2 cup of good olive oil, add 1 or two thinly sliced garlic cloves, 4 chopped anchovy filets.  You heat over medium until it becomes fragrant, about a minute.  Then add the leaves of the quartered and rinsed radicchio and cook for a few minutes.  Add 2 cups of cooked white beans and a spoonful of the liquid.  Season with salt and pepper, stirring gently until the beans are warm and the radicchio is wilted, 3 to 5 minutes.  Serve with a drizzle more of good olive oil and a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar to each serving.  When I first tried it I forgot to add the balsamic...once I added a few drops to my serving...it was pretty amazing.  For more recipes from these women check out these blogs:

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden, Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Jeanette - Healthy Living

Mary - One Perfect Bite, Kathleen - Bake Away with Me, Sue - The View from Great Island Barbara - Movable Feasts , Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo

Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen

Annie - Most Lovely Things, Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table, Amrita - Beetles Kitchen Escapades