Puntarelle is a plant in the chicory family. The same family of dandelion leaves, readily available in US supermarkets. Except that the puntarelle plant is made up of a number of shoots one half to an inch in diameter that grows around a central core. Pictures of puntarella are readily available on the internet. Just google it and explore. In Italy there are also small plants in the chicory family that are made up solely of long leaves, let’s say an aggregation of dandelion leaves as in spinach, except that the spinach leaves have just the stem at the bottom and the round leaf at the top. These chicory plants are sometimes erroneously referred to as puntarelle, but in fact, they are chicory. Same family. With shoots, puntarelle. Leaves only, cicoria (chicory).

Plain and simple:

Boil in water (put quite a bit of water in the pot, if the puntarelle plant is mature and therefore slightly bitter). Cook for 3-4 minutes, don’t cook too much. Take out of the water and plunge into cold water. Braise puntarelle in some olive oil and browned garlic until desired tenderness is reached. Add salt or a touch of soy sauce and serve as a vegetable.

Puntarelle Alla Romana:

This is a salad the Romans prepare. Ingredients: 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1 garlic clove very finely minced, 2 tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil, 3-4 anchovies chopped in small pieces. Anchovies preserved in oil are very appropriate for this. For a stronger anchovy flavor, one can use anchovies preserved in salt that should be cleaned, filleted, and then chopped into small pieces. One-half a pound of edible puntarelle shoots and or tender leaves that have been filleted the long way and then placed in a water bowl with ice for 20-30 minutes. During this process, the puntarelle filets and leaves curl up. Take out of the water, dry the puntarelle with paper towels, and place in a salad bowl.

In a small bowl, mix the oil, vinegar, garlic, anchovies, and add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the dressing over the puntarelle and mix. Voila’.

Puntarelle and Fava beans:

Buy some dried and split fava beans (they are yellow). These can be found at natural food stores, middle eastern grocery stores, Italian grocery stores, etc. Genova Delicatessen at 51st and Telegraph has small one-half-pound bags of split fava beans by Calleris, which they call split broad beans (but they are in fact fava beans).

Soak about a cupful of fava beans for several hours (or overnight-better) in a water bowl (beans should be covered by the water). After soaking (the beans will have swollen up) place beans in a small pot, cover with water (one to two fingers above the level of beans). Bring to a boil and cook over low fire until water is gone and the beans have turned into a soft puree. You have to watch the beans from time to time to ensure that the bottom does not burn. If water has fully evaporated and the beans have not reached the puree stage, add some warm water and stir the beans and cook as long as it takes for the beans to turn into a puree. Turn the heat off.

The puntarelle should be thoroughly be trimmed off all outer hard leaves until you get to leaves that when split in half do not produce filaments. In other words, they can be split cleanly. This indicated that the leaves are now tender. After setting aside in a large bowl the tender leaves, pull individual shoot from the core, trim the hard end of the shoot and cut in half the long way. When you get down to the central core, cut the hard part (the bottom) off and cut in two or four parts the long way. Soak about 2 pounds of usable leaves and shoots in a water bowl. Wash and drain a couple of times to get rid of residual sand Boil the puntarelle in a pot of boiling water until tender. Please note that if Puntarelle is slightly bitter when raw, put enough water in the pot so that they lose some of the bitterness. Drain and reserve one cup of liquid. Place the puntarelle in small serving bowls (one bowl per person to be served). Add the reserved liquid into the bowls.

Brown 1 clove of finely chopped garlic and one large sliced onion in 2 tbsp. of olive oil and cook over medium heat until the onions are caramelized (10-12 minutes over medium heat)

Make a well in the middle of the puntarelle in each of the bowls. Place a portion of the fava bean puree in the middle of each bowl. The one cup of dried fava beans should make about four servings of puree. Pour the garlic and the caramelized onion over the bowls, add salt and pepper to taste, and add some fresh olive oil on top. Slice some fresh country bread to dunk in the liquid and voila, a complete meal with carbs, protein, and vegetables (talk about Mediterranean diet!). If prepared well, this is a wonderfully flavorful dish, well-liked by all who have tried it!

Bollito di Puntarelle:

3-4 pounds of puntarelle, shoots individually cut from the plant, trimmed and split plus inner tender leaves. Refer to the above for more details on the cleaning and trimming of the puntarelle. Or 3-4 pounds of chicory with each individual leaf separated from the plant, de-veined (as one would do for a celery stalk) if necessary, and cut in 3-4 inch pieces. Soak in water.

Put together 1 pound of ground chicken or turkey meat, 1 cup grated Parmigiano, chopped parsley, one egg, salt, pepper, and a clove of minced garlic; mix all together. Fry the meat mixture in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until browned and the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.