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This festive salad is bold, bright, and delicious!

This vibrant winter radicchio salad is especially festive. It's quick, easy and a delightful balance of sweet, bitter and peppery flavours. And it's an elegant colourful side dish that's perfect for the holidays.

— Maria Fazzari Larosa

Italian radicchio salad

• 2 small heads radicchio washed dried and torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 fresh fennel bulb
• 3/4 cup (180 mL) candied pecans
• 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) crumbled Danish blue cheese
• 1 cup (250 mL) pickled pepperoncini peppers

Vinaigrette

• 1 tbsp (15 mL) honey
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard
• 1 chopped shallot
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) olive oil
• 1/4 cup (60 mL) red wine vinegar

Make the vinaigrette dressing: in a small bowl add your finely chopped shallot salt and pepper Dijon mustard honey and red wine vinegar, gradually whisk in the olive oil until a creamy dressing forms.

Place the washed dried and torn pieces of radicchio into a large bowl. Finely slice your fennel bulb and add to the radicchio. Drizzle with a few tablespoons of the vinaigrette dressing and toss gently to combine.

Transfer the radicchio and fennel to a large serving platter, add the candied pecans, the crumbled blue cheese and the Peperoncino peppers, and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.

Serves 4-6

Maria Fazzari Larosa is a cookbook author of Maria’s Italian Cucina from Burnaby who shares her recipe creations online @mariascucina on Instagram.

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These 18 Vancouver restaurants are Hollywood North favourites

Vancouver is home to many amazing restaurants.

Whether you’re new to the city, a longtime local, or are just in town for a few days, taking some time to explore and enjoy the city’s gastronomic bounty is highly recommended.

While we know what A-list celebrities like: Ryan Reynolds loves Minerva’s and Drake loves La Terrazza when he’s visiting Vancouver. So we wondered where other Hollywood North insiders like to dine. After all, who doesn’t love a good ‘you-gotta-eat-here’ recommendation?

Read the full story.

Young Vancouver chef gets two Michelin nods for Sushi Masuda

Sushi Masuda
Where: 1066 West Hastings St., Vancouver
When: Dinner service, Wednesday to Sunday
Info: 604-816-3312 | sushimasuda.com

Yoji Masuda, sparing of words but brimming with passion, is something of a shooting star.

The 33-year-old opened his first restaurant, the tiny, hard-to-find Sushi Masuda, in March and before the year played out, he’s a Michelin-star chef as well as a Michelin young chef.

The Vancouver-born and raised chef was smitten with sushi on family trips to Japan, mesmerized by the chefs at work. After high school, he went to work in sushi restaurants in Hokkaido, then secured an apprenticeship at Sushi Yoshitake in Tokyo with three Michelin stars at the time (current status: two stars).

“I love sushi,” he says. “It’s still my favourite food. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” Not that he does. “I do love burgers, french fries, pizza and fried chicken, too.”

Read Mia Stainsby's full review.

Anthony Gismondi’s value wine pick

Fonseca Bin No 27 Reserve Port N/V, Douro Valley, Portugal

$22.99 I 88/100

UPC: 5013521100451

Fonseca Bin 27 was launched more than 40 years ago in Britain but has become a particular favourite in North America. It is a no-fuss Port with some power and fruit that reflects the goal of making “a smooth, full-bodied and densely fruity blend in style known at the time as 'vintage character' but usually known today as the finest reserve." The firm habitually named its crusted Ports using bin numbers, and Bin 27 was born. Little has changed today. The attack is sweet and spicy with a touch of fire, sugared blackberry, cassis, dark cocoa, black tea, and finished with black pepper. You can drink this alone or with some toasted nuts or Christmas pudding.

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