I made this salad for the first time last Easter and is served as an appetizer. It was more successful than I expected. Some of my guests didn’t even know what puntarelle chicory was and they were a little bit intimidated at first. A few years ago I didn’t know much about puntarelle either only that it was a famous vegetable widely used in the Roman cuisine. It was difficult to find it here in the North, but luckily now they are available in our stores starting in December through April.

Puntarelle is a variety of chicory, with serrated leaves, attached to the base of the plant that surrounds the shoots growing inside the plant during the winter. Its flavor is similar to chicory and endive with bitter and peppery-like taste. The shoots are crunchy and can be eaten raw or cooked. When cooked have a mellower flavor and can be used to make wonderful pasta dishes. There are also other ways to eat them cooked, for example, my mom boils them and simply eats them with hard boiled eggs seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper. When eaten raw they have a stronger and bitter taste and thus they’re often accompanied with anchovies in salads that mitigate the bitterness and compliment the flavor.

I should call this Easter salad because it gathers contemporary and traditional Easter ingredients. It’s a tribute to the spring: puntarelle, oranges, avocado and the ever present eggs. Eggs have always been a vital and positive symbol, an emblem of new life and a metaphor for the rebirth of nature and body. In all the continents as well as in the most antique traditions, eggs seem to have similar meanings and were eaten to celebrate the arrival of the spring. This tradition hasn’t changed in centuries, so lets celebrate!

Puntarelle with eggs, oranges and avocado salad

Ingredients:

1 lb. puntarelle chicory
4 oranges
3 eggs
1 avocado
3.5 oz. black olives
the juice of one lemon
5-6 chives chopped
5 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

Discard the outer and thicker leaves of the puntarelle. Cut the shoots in four part and place them in cold water together with the thinner and smaller leaves. Leaving them in cold water makes them crunchier as well as curly and less bitter.
Boil the eggs for 10 minutes, cool them under cold running water. Shell them and cut them in round slices.
Peal the oranges with a knife and eliminate the rind (zest, the orange part plus albedo, the white part). Slice the oranges in thin round slices and place them on the bottom of a serving plate.
Cut the avocado in two and eliminate the seed. Cut the avocado in cubes and sprinkle them with the lemon juice so they won’t get dark.
Drain the puntarelle and pat them dry. Place them in the middle of the plate and decoratively add also the egg slices, the olives and the avocado cubes.
In a small bowl whisk the oil together with balsamic vinegar, chives, salt and pepper. Drizzle the condiment over the salad and serve. Buon appetito!

Notes:
Recipe adapted from Sale & Pepe Magazine (April 2002).