Zum Rezepte-Letter: Jetzt anmelden und über neue Rezepte freuen!

Puntarelle

Author:
is a chef, food photographer, cookbook author and blogger.
Here he shares recipes, answers cooking questions and helps with cooking.

You can find my Puntarelle recipe in this post.

The asparagus-like vegetables are a feast for the eyes 🙂

We also know Puntarelle under the term volcano asparagus.

The vegetables promise a visual and tasty experience.

You can prepare volcanic asparagus raw in a salad or fried or steamed as a vegetable.

You can find both variants in this article with a lot of information, cooking tips and tricks.

Have fun reading and tasting, plus success in the kitchen!

1. Recipe Puntarelle

Photographing the volcano asparagus was a great pleasure for me.

There are simply more pictures :-), that’s good for the overview.

You will find more cooking tips and ideas after the recipe.

Maybe after reading you feel like having a chat in the kitchen?

You can send me your cooking questions and kitchen gossip via the comment function at the bottom of the page.

Puntarelle

Cooked, photographed and written down by chef Thomas Sixt.

Servings 4
Calories 240
Preparation Time 15 Min.
Cook Time 10 Min.
Total Time 25 Min.

Simple instructions for Puntarelle alla Romana and variations.

Rate Now!

Average Rating:
5.00 from 572 ratings

Puntarelle
Puntarelle Recipe Photo Volcanic Asparagus © Thomas Sixt

Ingredients

vegetables

1 Piece Puntarelle Vulkanspargel, cicoria di Catalogna, Cichorium intybus var. foliosum,Katalonischer Chicorée, Cicoria di Catalogna, Spargelchicorée, Cicoria asparago.

Anchovy pesto

12 Piece anchovy fillets
1 Piece glove of garlic
2 Pinches primal salt
4 Pinches Pepper black, ground
2 tsp brown cane sugar
80 ml Vinegar (I used white balsamic vinegar)
100 ml Olive oil

Instruction

Preparation step 1
Puntarelle on the cutting board
Puntarelle on the cutting board

Prepare puntarelle

Wash the volcanic asparagus, dry it and place it ready on the cutting board.

Preparation step 2
Cut off the puntarelle root
Cut off the puntarelle root

Cut root

Cut off the root at the bottom.

Remove the long, green leaves from the heart.

Preparation step 3
Puntarelle heart without outer leaves
Puntarelle heart without outer leaves

Prepare heart

Remove the wilted leaves from the heart and have a kitchen slicer ready.

Preparation step 4
Plane puntarelle
Plane puntarelle

Cut puntarelle

Thinly slice the heart of the volcanic asparagus from the root side.

Preparation step 5
Puntarelle planed with tips on the cutting board
Puntarelle planed with tips on the cutting board

Cutting tips

Cut the volcanic asparagus tips to the desired length and cut the tips in halves or quarters.

Preparation step 6
Puntarelle cut into julienne
Puntarelle cut into julienne

Provide puntarelle

Place sliced puntarelle in a bowl.

Preparation step 7
Puntarelle, volcanic asparagus in cold water
Puntarelle, volcanic asparagus in cold water

Soak Puntarelle

Soak the puntarelle in ice water for 25 minutes.

Preparation step 8
Anchovy vinaigrette dressing ingredients with olive oil and vinegar
Anchovy vinaigrette dressing ingredients with olive oil and vinegar

Anchovy pesto

Prepare the ingredients for the anchovy pesto.

Preparation step 9
Anchovy fillets (anchovies), garlic and chili in a mortar
Anchovy fillets (anchovies), garlic and chili in a mortar

Prepare pesto

Place the finely chopped garlic, anchovies and chili in the mortar.

Preparation step 10
Crush the anchovies in a mortar
Crush the anchovies in a mortar

Chop ingredients

Crush the ingredients in a mortar.

Preparation step 11
Put vinegar in the mortar
Put vinegar in the mortar

Add vinegar

Add the vinegar to the pesto ingredients.

Add pepper, sugar and a little salt and process in a mortar.

Preparation step 12
Supplement anchovy vinaigrette with olive oil
Add anchovy vinaigrette with olive oil and pour in

Add oil

Pour in the oil slowly and stir.

Preparation step 13
Anchovy vinaigrette in a mortar
Anchovy vinaigrette in a mortar

Pesto ready

Process all ingredients evenly and prepare a creamy salad dressing or anchovy pesto.

Preparation step 14
anchovy vinaigrette ready
anchovy vinaigrette ready

Taste pesto

Taste the pesto and adjust to taste.

Preparation step 15
Puntarelle tips prepared
Puntarelle tips prepared

Marinate tips

Marinate the dry asparagus tips with the prepared pesto.

Preparation step 16
Marinate the Puntarelle
Marinate the Puntarelle

Marinate salad

Marinate the dried volcanic asparagus salad.

Preparation step 17
Puntarelle julienne served
Puntarelle julienne served

Arrange plate

Arrange the salad in deep plates.

Preparation step 18
Puntarelle lettuce closeup
Puntarelle lettuce closeup

Decorate salad

Place the marinated puntarelle tips upright in the salad.

Preparation step 19
Puntarelle roman salad with volcanic asparagus
Puntarelle roman salad with volcanic asparagus

Arrange variant

Alternatively, marinate the tips and place on the chopped lettuce.

You can also drizzle both variants with the pesto and then serve.

Serve with a fine ciabatta or freshly baked pizza bread.

Preparation step 20
Antipasti recipe image
Antipasti Recipe Image © Thomas Sixt

Antipasti variety

Exciting ideas for a sophisticated antipasti plate can be found elsewhere on the food blog.

You can easily prepare the Italian starter.

Antipasti are always a good idea!

The pickled vegetables are suitable for lunch, brunch with friends, summer barbecues and dinner with friends or for two.

Bon appetit!

Video

Cousine

2. Calories And Nutritional Values

As usual, you can find the precisely calculated nutritional values for the Puntarelle recipe in the table below.

3. Puntarelle Season

The ideal harvest time for Puntarelle is January and February , the winter months.

Let’s also take a look at the vegetables.

Puntarelle Info:

Puntarelle is a popular variety of chicory, known in Italy as cicoria di Catalogna.

The vegetable is grown in Lazio and southern Italy.

The word “Puntarelle” means “little peaks”.

The scientific name is: “Cichorium intybus var. foliosum”.

Common names:

In Germany and Austria we know the vegetable as volcanic asparagus.

Other designations are:

Catalan Chicory –> Cicoria di Catalogna,

Asparagus chicory –> Cicoria asparago.

In the region around Rome, the cultivated cicoria di Catalogna frastagliata di Gaeta is mainly cultivated and cultivated.

Origin:

The volcano asparagus is a descendant of the wild chicory.

The vegetable was already eaten in ancient Egypt.

The traditional preparation is done with an anchovy dressing, which was probably already known in ancient times.

Puntarelle alla Romana is the wonderful volcanic asparagus salad with anchovy pesto

Show-off tip from chef Thomas Sixt
Puntarelle with outer leaves
Puntarelle photographed with outer leaves in daylight
Puntarelle photographed from above with outer leaves
Puntarelle photographed from above with outer leaves

4. Puntarelle Taste

The volcanic asparagus tastes slightly bitter.

The bitter taste intensifies when boiling, frying and heating.

For this reason, the vegetables are already available ready-to-cook on the markets in Rome, for example.

Ready to cook means shredded and soaked in ice water for a long time.

By “pickling” Puntarelle loses bitter flavors.

My experience is:

Depending on where they come from, the vegetable tastes more or less bitter.

I always taste the harvest or purchase raw and then decide on further processing.

Of course it’s a matter of personal taste.

For the salad, I only put my volcano asparagus in cold ice water for a very short time because I liked it so much raw.

Nice side effect of soaking in ice water:

The green, long outer leaves curl up wonderfully when they lie in cold water for a few minutes.

I prepared the salad with anchovy pesto, Mrs. Sixt made a light lemon dressing.

The volcanic asparagus goes well with white wine vinegar, with orange juice and lemon juice,

I used Uwe’s fine white balsamic vinegar .

I put together a balsamic cooking box with Uwe that you can order.

The better the vinegar, the better the salad tastes!

Puntarelle dressing tip from chef Thomas Sixt
Anchovy fillets (anchovies), garlic and chili in a mortar
Anchovy fillets (anchovies), garlic and chili in a mortar
Balsamic cooking box, ingredients box with balsamic vinegar
Aceto Balsamico cooking box, ingredient box with balsamic vinegar

5. Prepare Puntarelle Fried Or Cooked

Puntarelle tastes wonderfully cooked warm.

I recommend that you soak the cut volcanic asparagus in ice water for a good 40 minutes.

Heat intensifies the bitter taste, as we know from yellow chicory.

Mrs. Sixt thought the asparagus salad was delicious, but her palate couldn’t warm to the vegetables.

If you are preparing volcanic asparagus in the kitchen for the first time, I definitely recommend the salad.

In order for this article and our knowledge base to be complete, there is information on warm preparation here.

Puntarelle vegetable side dish:

Cut the stalks and leaves into small pieces, finely slice the heart.

Place in ice water for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

Sauté olive oil with some garlic and anchovy fillets.

Add the dried Puntarelle and cook as desired.

I had some of the vegetables in ice water for 2 hours, but it still tasted very bitter.

Tip: You can balance the bitter taste with sugar.

Puntarelle with spaghetti:

Sweat the garlic, anchovies and some capers.

After soaking, add Puntarelle and cook with some pasta water and reduce.

I seasoned the vegetables with lots of sugar, olive oil, a little salt, pepper and chilli and mixed them into the spaghetti.

Puntarelle with risotto

Almost finish cooking the risotto.

Prepare the Puntarelle vegetables in an extra pot as you would for spaghetti.

Determine the proportion of vegetables in the risotto according to taste.

This guarantees an original Italian rice dish that tastes great!

Puntarelle Omelet:

Cut and prepare volcanic asparagus and put them in ice water.

Then sauté the vegetables in olive oil or butter.

Season to taste and balance the bitter taste with sugar.

Prepare tips for serving.

Either fill the omelette with the vegetables and serve as a crescent,

Alternatively, mix Puntarelle vegetables with the egg and bake an omelette .

Serve decorated with the tips.

Puntarelle outer leaves on the cutting board
Puntarelle outer leaves on the cutting board
Puntarelle vegetables sliced on the cutting board
Puntarelle vegetables sliced on the cutting board
Volcanic asparagus cut in a pot
Volcanic asparagus cut in a pot
Puntarelle sliced in the pot for vegetable preparation
Puntarelle sliced in the pot for vegetable preparation
Puntarelle vegetables arranged
Puntarelle vegetables arranged
Puntarelle vegetables prepared
Puntarelle vegetables prepared

6. Chef Tips On Puntarelle

Here are a few more impressions of preparing the volcano asparagus.

You can leave the tips whole or prepare them in halves or quarters.

There are several options when it comes to serving:

On the one hand you can place the tips in the prepared salad,

alternatively, you can marinate the entire salad and put it on the plate.

Below you will find some nice 🙂 plates.

Puntarelle alla Romana
Puntarelle alla Romana © Thomas Sixt
Puntarelle lettuce closeup
Puntarelle lettuce closeup
Puntarelle roman salad with volcanic asparagus
Puntarelle roman salad with volcanic asparagus
Puntarelle close-up in a deep plate
Puntarelle close-up in a deep plate

7. Frequently Asked Questions About Puntarelle

I have put together the most important cooking questions answered below:

Can puntarelle steam in whole?

Puntarelle tastes very, very, bitter when steamed whole. I recommend: Cut into small pieces and soak in ice water, then steam or stew.

Can I prepare puntarelle in the oven?

You can spread soaked and prepared puntarelle on a baking sheet, then drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and sugar. Cook the vegetables on the top shelf of the grill and brown the vegetables.

Can I put the puntarelle raw?

Put the volcano asparagus tips in ice water for 12 hours. Then marinate with vinegar, salt and sugar for a short or long time. Pour into jars and fill with olive oil.

Can I put puntarelle in vinegar marinade?

Cut volcano asparagus and soak in ice water. Boil 1/2 l water and 1/2 l vinegar and season with 150-200 g raw cane sugar. Pour puntarelle into clean jars and cover with the vinegar broth. Keep vegetables sealed in the refrigerator.

8. More Antipasti Recipe Ideas

For a nice antipasti combination you will find more great ideas here in the food blog.

Comments, Cooking Questions and Answers

5.00 from 572 ratings

Below you can write to me directly.
Please don’t forget the star rating on the recipe, 5 stars means you liked it!