Puntarelle alla romana
Rome's winter salad, whose entire technique fits into one move: the cut chicory goes into iced water. The strips then curl into spirals, turn crisper and lose some of their bitterness, which the water rinses away. Without that step puntarelle are straight, tough and noticeably more bitter. The second pillar is a dressing in which the anchovies dissolve completely and cannot be identified as fish.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Cutting 20 min
- Iced water 50 min
- Anchovy dressing 10 min
- Combining 5 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSeparate the inner shoots from the leaves
Cut away the dark outer leaves and pull out the pale, hollow inner shoots — those are the puntarelle proper. The leaves are not waste: braised with garlic and chilli they are a Roman dish in their own right.
Ingredients: 700 g chicory · 2000 ml iced water
Slice the shoots lengthways into thin strips
Halve each shoot lengthways, then cut it into 3–4 mm strips, always along the grain. In Rome a wire cutting frame is used, but a sharp knife and patience give the same result.
Ingredients: 700 g chicory · 2000 ml iced water
Always lengthways, into 3–4 mm strips.Drop into iced water for 50 minutes
Submerge the strips in water with ice cubes for 50 minutes. Two things happen at once: the strips curl into tight spirals, because the cut flesh absorbs water and swells while the skin does not, and the water leaches out some of the bitter compounds.
Ingredients: 700 g chicory · 2000 ml iced water
The strips curl by themselves in iced water.Pound the anchovies with garlic
Crush the garlic with the anchovies in a mortar to a smooth brown paste. The fillets should disappear entirely — a well-made dressing does not taste of fish, only of salt and depth, and few people will guess what is in it.
Ingredients: 8 pcs anchovies · 2 cloves garlic · 2 tbsp white wine vinegar · 100 ml olive oil · ½ tsp pepper · ½ pcs lemon
Anchovies fully dissolved, no visible pieces.Work in the vinegar, lemon and oil
Stir in the vinegar and the juice of half a lemon, then add the oil in a thin stream while grinding, until the dressing thickens and turns opaque. Season with pepper — no salt needed, the anchovies bring it. The anchovy and garlic paste helps hold the emulsion, but the dressing will still separate in time, so stir it again just before dressing the salad.
Ingredients: 8 pcs anchovies · 2 cloves garlic · 2 tbsp white wine vinegar · 100 ml olive oil · ½ tsp pepper · ½ pcs lemon
Dry the chicory and dress at the last moment
Drain the strips and dry them thoroughly in a spinner or a cloth — wet, they dilute the dressing. Toss and serve straight away: every minute in the dressing softens the spirals and costs the salad its crunch.
Ingredients: 8 pcs anchovies · 2 cloves garlic · 2 tbsp white wine vinegar · 100 ml olive oil · ½ tsp pepper · ½ pcs lemon
Before you start
Instead of puntarelle
True puntarelle are a winter crop and largely an Italian one. Substitutes: endive, radicchio, or the white stems of Belgian chicory sliced lengthways. The principle stays — something bitter and firm, treated with iced water.
The anchovies are not optional
Without them you are left with the bitterness of chicory and vinegar. They bring the salt and umami that balance a bitter leaf. Vegetarian version: a teaspoon of miso paste plus capers, but that is a different, if also good, dressing.
How much bitterness to keep
Iced water takes away only part of the bitterness — and rightly so, because bitterness is the point of this salad. For something milder, soak for up to two hours, but no longer: strips soaked too long lose their character and become merely a crisp leaf.
