Recipe: Puntarelle Salad

Puntarelle are the tips of  a variety of Chicory and it is a very popular side dish in Rome. Preparation is a bit long but once you will eat this delicious salad you will be happy that you did work hard. I could find them at Borough Market where every Thursday they are delivered to Turnips Borough Market. So just a great deal of preparation but very few ingredients.

As you can see we will need some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, I've chosen the Tamia Caninese Organic, a bunch of Puntarelle, Garlic and Anchovies Fillets by L'Isola d'Oro, the Cantabrian variety that you can find at Fratelli Camisa. I don't use salt because the anchovies will be salted enough. I always got a jar of anchovies fillets because they are so versatile and you can use them in many recipes.

First of all cut every single tip from the bunch and wash them to remove any soil left.

With a sharp knife cut the tip in half.....

...and again each half in another  half.

Put them in a bowl with ice cubes, because the water must be very cold so that the tips curl up. You can leave them for up to 1 hour.

Now in a bowl put the L'Isola d'Oro anchovies fillets and cut them in pieces. Quantity depends how much you want your salad to be flavoured.

Squeeze the garlic if you don't like it chopped and add it to the bowl. Here as well it depends how much you like the flavour you can put as many cloves as you like. Pour some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and mix everything together.
When the "puntarelle" are all nice and curled up drain them, put them in a serving bowl, add the dressing and toss everything. I use my bare hands so that I can " feel" all the ingredients mixed up.

Ready to be eaten. In Rome this side dish is served to accompany roasted lamb, or battered cod fillets, egg omelettes and any other kind of meat cooked hunter's style. www.lisoladoro.it