Puntarelle

[weinoo]

One of my favorite salads is puntarelle, served as they do in Rome, raw, with an assertive, anchovy-garlic-lemon dressing.

 

I believe it can also served cooked (to death, as they do in Rome).

 

I picked up a bunch of this at the greenmarket this past week:

 

 

And after thoroughly cleaning it, cooked it, by sautéing in olive oil, garlic and red chili flakes.

 

Man, it was really, really, bitter - and I love bitter greens, but this was literally too much.

 

I think blanching them first would have been the way to go.

 

Do you use puntarelle?  

 

And - how do you prepare it?

Edited October 11, 2014 by weinoo (log)

[Shelby]

I've never even heard of puntarelle.  I must go google.

[Shelby]

Looking at pictures on the internet, your puntarelle looks like what this blog describes.  They agree with you that blanching would be the way to go......http://www.daveskitchen.com/recipes/puntarelle-chicory-from-paisley-farm/

[&roid]

Staff note: This post has been moved from the Endive recipes topic.

 

On 1/4/2023 at 1:06 PM, weinoo said:

For the dressing I used 3 (rinsed) anchovies, 1/2 a small clove of garlic, 2 T olive oil, and 1 T white wine vinegar.  I think it's important to really smash the garlic, so I like to make this dressing in a small mortal and pestle, after mincing the garlic finely.

Managed to get hold of a lovely head of Puntarelle for tea tonight. Did it with this dressing and it was beautiful. Thanks @weinoo for the pointers. 
 

As a bonus we’ve now got the outer leaves leftover for tomorrow's soup. 
 

 

[weinoo]

12 hours ago, &roid said:

Managed to get hold of a lovely head of Puntarelle for tea tonight. Did it with this dressing and it was beautiful. Thanks @weinoo for the pointers. 
 

As a bonus we’ve now got the outer leaves leftover for tomorrow's soup. 

 

Whoa - very nice, and good job on the puntarelle prep.  But don't you have one of these?????

 

 

Good for all sorts of chicory and endives!

 

https://www.fantes.com/puntarelle-cutter

[&roid]

Ha! Who knew such a thing existed! Can see why though - it’s not a hard job to do by hand but it takes ages. 
 

ETA - it was absolutely delicious in our soup tonight. My sixteen year old (elder kitchen porter) made us a great soup with some bacon, a few white beans, a couple of old Parmesan rinds and the lovely leafy parts of the puntarelle. The head wasn’t overly cheap (about £4) but it was in great condition and we’ve had two great meals from it. 

Edited January 10, 2023 by &roid (log)

[weinoo]

19 hours ago, &roid said:

couple of old Parmesan rinds

 

These often go into Italian style soups I make.