Recipe: Puntarelle Salad
Sadly the photos I took of this warmed salad didn’t come out quite right. So you will need to check a few of these sites for some classic photos of this winter Italian green:
The other crazy fact of this winter green is that I completely mistook it for a different green in my mad quantities of greens from the Mystery Box we got last week. Once I put the greens into the saute pan, I realized they were puntarelle and quickly altered the cooking time to nearly zero. This is a recipe of luck – it could have easily been a disaster. But the flavor of the bacon moderates the bitter bite of the puntarelle, and the red wine vinegar enhances both just enough to be perfectly lovely. Add a bit of hard boiled egg to the top if you desire – we liked it!
Ingredients:
- 3-4 pieces of bacon
- 1/2 c. chopped onion
- 1 bunch of puntarelle
- 4 T. red wine vinegar
- 1 hard boiled egg, optional
- Cook the bacon in a medium hot saute pan. Once it is well on its way, about 2-3 minutes, add the onion. Cook both until the bacon is well done and the onions are nicely browned.
- Add the puntarelle and mix well in the saute pan. Cook the greens until just warmed, 1 minute. Remove all ingredients from the heat to a bowl (lined with paper towels if they are too greasy).
- Return the pan to medium heat and add the red wine vinegar. Deglaze the pan scrapping all of the bits into the vinegar. Turn off the heat, return all the ingredients to the pan and toss well.
- Place the salad in a serving bowl, top with a hard boiled egg if desired. Serve warm.
