celery and puntarelle roman style

sedano e puntarelle alla romana

Puntarelle, part of the chicory family, is a unique vegetable. Grown for its large heads of hollow stems that are crowned with pointed bitter leaves. It is prized as a salad in Rome.

for 6

inner white hearts of 3 heads celery, plus their leaves

1 head puntarelle

8 salted anchovies, prepared (see here)

juice of 2 lemons

Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 dried red chillies, crumbled

extra virgin olive oil

Pick off the tender pale yellow leaves from the celery hearts. Slice across the hearts diagonally, about 5 cm thick. Place in a bowl of iced water for 30 minutes or more.

Break off the buds from the head of the puntarelle and finely slice each bud across, again at a diagonal, as finely as possible. Keep any of the fine green feathery young leaves and trim off any stringy parts. Place the puntarelle into iced water for 1 hour or more.

Cut the anchovy fillets in half, place on a flat dish, squeeze over half the lemon juice and season with black pepper and a little of the chilli. Pour over 2 tablespoons olive oil. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

Mix the remaining lemon juice with four times its volume of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Take the puntarelle and celery from the iced water; they should be crisp. Spin dry. Toss together with the oil and lemon juice, then add the marinated anchovies and their juices. Sprinkle with the remaining chilli and the retained leaves.