From Farmers Market to Table with Chef Denise in Piemonte
Chef Denise at the Dogliani Farmers Market
Image | Anna Savino
Denise Pardini, a fellow Italian-American expat in Piemonte, is a modern-day Renaissance queen. As she explains in her biography, she is a restorer, owner, manager and chef at her Hotel Castello di Sinio. I would also add consultant, gardener, baker and steward to her 12th-century castle.
The full puntarella
Image | Anna Savino
On a beautiful sunny morning in March, Denise let me tag along with her to the Dogliani town farmers market in the beautiful wine country. She introduced me to an incredibly fascinating vegetable called puntarella, which is a Catalonian type of chicory, and also talked to me about mint and radicchio.
Shopping at the Dogliani Farmers Market with Chef Denise
Here is a salad recipe using the fresh produce we explored in this video.
Puntarella, Potato & Calamari Salad with Lemon Anchovy Dressing
Puntarella is in the chicory family and members include radicchio, escarole, frisée, Belgian endive—all things that most people are pretty familiar with by now. Two other chicories that might not be as familiar are catalogna and puntarella. They both are very common in southern Italy but are becoming more well known and popular here in the north. A simple puntarella salad with anchovy dressing is a mainstay in Roman trattorias, but more elaborate salads using puntarella are very rewarding. The lemon anchovy dressing is almost a Caesar salad dressing but without the egg. So, you could think of puntarella as a substitute for the romaine lettuce in a Cesare salad and go from there. Pair it, as it often is in the states with chicken, prawns or salmon. Here I have paired it with calamari. I think it is really delicious and once prepped, the puntarella can stay in ice water in your fridge for 3 or 4 days, ready to use!
The heart of the puntarella
Image | Chef Denise
Salad Ingredients:
1 medium head of puntarella
4 waxy potatoes
½ cup Nicoise or Ligurian olives, pitted
2 tbsp capers
½ lb (or more) calamari, cleaned cut in to 1 inch rings
1 clove garlic
1 pinch red pepper flakes pinch
6 large basil leaves, julienne cut
2 tbsp olive oil
Salad Recipe:
1. Pull off any long green outer leaves of the puntarella to expose the inner head of closely clustered punte or points. They look a bit like asparagus tips. Snap off each tip pulling each away from the cluster. Shave each tip on a mandoline. They actually make a puntarella cutter, but an inexpensive plastic mandoline works great. Put the shaved puntarella in a container with ice water. Set aside.
2. Boil the potatoes until cooked through. Allow to cool, then peel and cut into 1-inch cubes.
3. Pit the olives if necessary.
4. Peel the garlic clove and mash to a fine paste.
4. Sauté the calamari: In a sauté pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat and add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to make sure the garlic does not color too much. Add the calamari and sauté briefly, just until the calamari is no longer translucent, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the julienned basil.
5. Drain the puntarella and pat dry. Put the puntarella, potatoes, olives, capers and calamari with any juices in a large salad bowl. Sprinkle on a pinch of red pepper flakes. Add about a half a cup of the lemon anchovy dressing (see below) and toss gently but thoroughly.
7. Plate and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Lemon Anchovy Dressing:
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest of both lemons
1 shallot
1 garlic clove
1 heaping tbsp Dijon mustard
4 anchovy filets in oil
2 splashes of Worchestershire sauce (optional but recommended)
salt & black pepper to taste
1 ¼ cup olive oil
Dressing Recipe
1. Put all the ingredients except the olive oil in a blender. Blend until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the blender canister and put on the lid, removing the cover to the hole in the middle of the lid.
2. Turn the blender on low and begin to slowly drizzle in the olive oil. When about half of the oil is added and the vinaigrette has emulsified, turn the blender to med high and continue to drizzle in the rest of the oil. Taste and if the dressing seems too tart, turn the blender back on and add another quarter cup of oil.
3. For storage, put the vinaigrette in container with a tight-sealing lid.
Puntarella salad with calamari
Image | Chef Denise
