Michele D.
Yelp
I'm so glad to see everything back to normal after the pandemic. I stopped by for olive spread but ended up looking at the produce and found this item. The puntarelle is a form of chicory, almost like radicchio, and it's naturally a little bitter. The chicory family has inulin, which is good prebiotic and helps with sugar control (inulin, insulin, two completely different things if you're researching. The chicory has inulin. Regardless, it's supposed to help reduce insulin resistance).
I've never even seen this vegetable much less prepared it, so I had to google and here are my findings: You clean it up, trim the leafy and brown bits, julienne it, and soak it in ice water to get most of the bitterness out. Some variations will curl in the water, some won't. I guess traditionally there's a special cutter/mandoline to use, and believe me, I get it. It's difficult to julienne with a knife and I ended up losing patience and cutting some of it sideways like calamari. A traditional Roman preparation apparently uses sardines, but my cardiologist says no to these sort of things. I had to improvise.
Follow my thought process: I don't know of any such thing as low sodium sardines. There's not really a fishy substitute that I could think of that would provide a contrast to the bitterness. I decided to put a French spin on it. I added finely sliced raw shallots, crushed walnuts, and little bits of brie (I'm a rind-on sort of person, I hope we can still be friends). I was thinking ripe pears, but they were not to be found, so I left them out. I found a vinaigrette with garlic and crushed olives that wasn't too high in sodium and set to work. The first go, the vinaigrette totally overwhelmed the taste, so for the second go I used the dressing very sparingly. FYI, I noticed that the soaking actually took away a lot of the bitterness. I drink chicory coffee every day, so to me, it wasn't bitter enough after soaking. I think if you like bitter, taste it as it is soaking. Overall, it was an interesting and healthy salad, something to try at least once. I'm sure there are many other ways to prepare it. I did some salmon croquettes to the side, using a no salt Cajun spice. Anarchy or genius, you decide.
I would definitely make it a point to stop by the market. There are barrels of olives, pasta, sauce, you get the picture. Notably, the little coffee stand by the entrance had many sinfully sweet treats. There was something that was like a light pistachio cake that tasted amazing. Sounds about right to enjoy with a coffee. And you can cancel it out with the salad after. It's all about balance.