Let summer begin…

Relle!…Puntarelle that is!

God, you just want to sing that name out loud like a Ricola cough drop commercial…Puuuuunterrrreeeeelllleeeeeeee! And then you fall off the cliff or the glacier in pure ecstasy because you have lived to taste the wild Roman chicory in a tangy, anchovy garlic dressing…and nothing else matters!!!

Nothing…ok a few things but you get the point…it’s kind of special.

Aside from artichokes, puntarelle is one of a few vegetables Romans will dare to eat raw. Why you might ask? Why with such delicate digestive systems would they venture to eat something “crudo”?

Because it’s special.

Puntarelle also has a limited growing season. It pops up in the early spring disappears for a while and comes back around early fall.

Again, Romans love seasonality. Why? Because it makes things special! Duh!

Now for the recipe:

First off you need a bunch/ one head of puntarelle obviously. If you can’t find it you can substitute it with a nice Belgian endive or radicchio. Even when I have puntarelle I sometimes mix in a little fennel bulb as well. But if you want the real thing and you just kind find it locally I suggest growing your own. The botanical name is Chicory Catalogna and you can find seeds for it on this seeds of Italy site.

Puntarelle salad

1 bunch puntarelle

1/2 garlic clove

¼ teaspoon red chilli flakes or small part of a dried chilli

3 anchovy fillets

¼ cup olive oil

2 tbs white wine vinegar

10-15 Cappers, more for mixing in with the salad

Salt

Step one:

Clean the puntarelle. Strip off the outer green grassy like leaves and cut off the woody stems of the main asparagus looking stems. Fill a large bowl with very cold water. You will find that the stems are hollow. Slice them length wise into thin strips and toss them in your cold water. Let them soak for and hour or so, or until they really start to curl up into little squiggly curls.

For the dressing.

The dressing is much to taste. If you like more garlic use loads more! If you want it more vinigarry..(god is that a word?)…add more! Just put all the ingredients in a glass or bowl …or even better yet a mortar and pestle and start grinding.

Now I must mention that capers are by no means the traditional part of the Roman puntarelle salad…but those anchovies were screaming for them so I threw them in and I love the results! In general I start modestly and then add more vinegar, anchovies and oil, salt etc as I go. Dry your puntarelle in a salad spinner and toss on the dressing…and anymore of the oil, vinegar, salt, anchovies etc that you so choose…. now sprinkle some more capers on top if you’d like and enjoy! And ummm … don’t jump off a cliff afterwards…really unnecessary…