Puntarelle
Cichorium intybus var. foliosum · Vegetable
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Puntarelle is the cluster of pale, hollow flowering shoots harvested from the heart of a Catalogna chicory (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum) — a crisp, faintly bitter winter vegetable that is the centrepiece of the classic Roman salad puntarelle alla romana.
Picking a good onedrag
Just cut, shoots snap wetHollow, limp, dark at the base
Market freshEveryday bestThe winter standard: strip the cluster from the head, slit each shoot lengthwise, ice it, then anchovy, garlic, oil and vinegar.
The shootsIvory-green, tips just opening, still firm
The snapSnaps, but the break face is only damp
Head and cut baseLeaves relaxed but green, cut face dry and pale
Smell at the cutGreen and quiet, the milky note almost gone