Crunch on Crunch on Crunch

when a salad makes you too excited

Last night’s salad was Puntarelle with a twist.

Puntarelle, an Italian chicory variety sometimes called cicoria asparago is my favorite green of the spring season. I first ate it in Rome literally decades ago and seek it out each time I’m there if they’re in season, usually in spring and sometimes in the fall. I’ve always eaten them prepared in the classic Roman way, cut into thin curled strips and dressed with an assertive anchovy-garlic dressing. I love the plant so much that in the late 1990s I brought some seed back and convinced Mary Ann and Paul Carpenter who farmed in Santa Paula to grow it. I promised I would buy it all. I could not fulfill that promise because I couldn’t get diners to buy the salad at my restaurant Angeli nor enlist prep cooks to help me prep the vegetable. I’m thrilled to see that at least two farmers in Southern California have started growing puntarelle. Roots Farm in the Santa Ynez Valley and Tutti Frutti Farms in the Santa Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County. There must be something about the micro climate in the area for these two farms to take the risk of planting this unusual variety of chicory, hoping customers will bite. It’s such an odd plant. When a new vegetable shows up at the markets there is a learning curve for both farmers and customers. A new cultural tradition to acquire, and Americans being Americans different ways of preparation to explore.

Video above taken by Sophie Minchilli in Rome. Romans are lucky to be able to purchase puntarelle already prepped by market vendors.

Seen whole, a head of puntarelle looks similar to a head of romaine with spikier, dandelion-like leaves. But when you peer into the head, instead of more leaves, you see a clump of asparagus-like shoots coming up from the base. Ergo the Italian name cicoria asparago. These shoots are hollow, and when eaten prepared in thin strips, they are super crunchy, which is why I suppose I love the plant. It’s the combination of the mild bitterness of a Belgian endive or radicchio combined with a juicy crunch. Puntarelle (in the plural in Italian) are extremely satisfying to eat.

Puntarelle at Tutti Frutti Farmstand at the Hollywood Farmers Market. Photo by Evan Kleiman.

Preparing them for salad takes some time, but it’s not difficult. In comparison to those big salads where one prepares five or six different vegetables before marrying them in the bowl, preparing puntarelle is a snap. One discards the external leaves and separates the shoots from the head. Sometimes they just pull away other times one must cut them off the base with a paring knife. Convention is to vertically cut each shoot into long julienne strips, which are placed in ice water to soak. The cold water causes the thin, long pieces to curl and helps maintain the crunch until you’re ready to eat. But I like to munch on the whole shoot much like I would a carrot. It’s a bit like eating a stalk of celery but without the strings and a more delicate crunch. They’re fun to include in a crudités display and are delicious swooped through hummus or a lebne based dip. Also considering that they are a chicory, you can also cook them much as you would Belgian endive or radicchio. They can be grilled or braised or sauteed in a pan.

But there’s a reason puntarelle are traditionally paired with an assertive garlic-anchovy vinaigrette. The combination of that slightly bitter crunch with the umami of anchovy and sharpness of garlic is moreish as Nigella would say. I’m in the throes of a daily engagement with the salad until I run out. That’s another great attribute of the plant is that a little goes a long way when you prep them in long strips. I just used two shoots to make myself a satisfying dinner salad. My twist was to add avocado. It was also on farmers tables at the market and I thought its richness would pair well. I was correct. You can’t see pieces of avocado in the photo above because the flesh was so perfectly ripe it ended up mixing in completely with the dressing and helped it adhere to the curls. Making this salad also reminded me how much I love Agostino Recco anchovies. I used the spicy kind I had in the pantry. Expect another post focused on the little beauties. I prefer to make the dressing or condimento by chopping the garlic and anchovy instead of pounding or pureeing them. Do not be afraid to use the anchovy. It makes the dish.

Here’s a step by step tutorial on how to prepare puntarelle and to make the dressing. If you want to buy a special cutter to make the work of prepping them easier like in the video above, you can order it here. And if you’d like to hear me expound on the vegetable here’s a link to my conversation with Madeleine Brand on KCRW’s Press Play.