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Caption: Puntarelle Roman Chicory
Caption: Although I have lived in Italy since 1998, I honestly don’t think I ever knew what ‘Puntarelle’ were until I moved to Rome a little over two years ago. Available in winter, Puntarelle are the inner stalks of the Catalonian chicory (the outer stalks are extremely bitter eaten raw but work well cooked in a stew for example). They make a crisp and refreshing salad and have a slightly bitter taste. They also aid in diegestion, are low in calories but rich in fibre and mineral salts. It is traditional to serve them with an anchovy dressing, and they make a perfect accompaniment to cleanse the palate after a heavy bowl of pasta, or particularly rich dish.
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Caption: Preparing the Puntarelle can be laborious work and I always buy them readily prepared at my local market. The fruit & vegetable merchants prepare Puntarelle daily and you will find them all curly, sitting in a tub of cold water. If you’re not planning to eat them immediately, you must keep them in the refrigerator in a bowl of water which obviously becomes icy cold. If you don’t do this, they turn brown quickly, and lose their ‘crunchiness’.
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Caption: How you'll see Puntarelle at the local markets
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Caption: If you want to be an authentic ‘casalinga italiana’, (Italian housewife) you can buy the Chicory and prepare the Puntarelle at home. Keep an icy cold bowl of cold water at the ready, it’s the cold water that makes the Puntarelle curl up. After breaking away the outer leaves, you will need to break the core of the plant into individual stalks. These stalks are then passed through a flat wire cutter – the ‘tagliapuntarelle’ (purchased from the hardware store for around €10 ), and then immediately put into the ice cold water.
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Caption: You can tell by his hands that he does this A LOT!
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Caption: Although not the traditional way to serve Puntarelle, they make a refreshing addition to any salad!
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Caption: For salad recipe please visit my blog! www.tonibrancatisano.com
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