A Long and Messy Business. Rowley Leigh

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      PUNTARELLA SALAD WITH ANCHOVIES AND

      SEVILLE ORANGE

      Puntarella is at the height of its season in January but, I

      will have to concede, not easily found. Unusually, I would

      also concede that substitutions can and might have to be

      made. The salad will work well with curly endive, radicchio

      or witloof endive, the flavours being similar, if lacking a

      little of puntarella’s special crunch.

      Discard the leaves from the outside and top of the

      puntarella and separate the stalk clusters, breaking them

      off or cutting them from the base. Cut these in half, then

      slice them into thin strands. Rinse them carefully in cold

      water, then soak in a large basin of very cold water for at

      least 1 hour, preferably 2. Drain the stalks, then dry them

      in a salad spinner. Place the anchovies in a bowl and

      mix with the grated zest of one of the oranges and the

      juice of both. Add the olive oil and a good grinding of

      black pepper, then add the puntarella and turn it very

      thoroughly until it is coated in the mixture.

      Serve with plain country bread, either as a starter or as

      a side salad to a piece of grilled fish or grilled lamb chops.

      WINE: The aggressive seasoning – especially the orange

      – will, I’m afraid, kill fine wine. A gutsy white from Central

      Italy such as a Trebbiano, Pecorino or Fiano d’Avellino or

      a coarse and racy red will not be so squeamish and should

      cope very well.

      Serves six as a starter.

      1 head of puntarella

      10 salted anchovy fillets,

      coarsely chopped

      2 Seville oranges

      4 tablespoons strong olive oil

      black pepper

      22

      Forced from Thongs

      Sea Kale with Poached Eggs and Truffles

      Most of the time I do my best. I try to suggest recipes with

      everyday ingredients whenever possible. I take pride in

      getting the best out of a shoulder of lamb, a Savoy cabbage

      or a pineapple. Most of the produce that you see

      photographed in this book comes from a well-known

      online supermarket. Bearing in mind that many good

      ingredients that were readily available in the high street

      thirty years ago – fresh mackerel, wild rabbit, herrings, a

      piece of brisket, say – are no longer so readily found, this

      is not always easy. This recipe, however, is made with

      ingredients that are unashamedly more arcane.

      To my knowledge, and I’m happy to be corrected, there

      is only one commercial producer of sea kale in Britain: the

      sainted Sandy Patullo who grows it as a little sideline to

      his asparagus business near Glamis, in Angus. Although

      lacking the hydroponic element, producing sea kale is as

      complicated and laborious a process as the production of

      radicchio di Treviso tardive. Sandy learned the techniques

      of developing the crowns, producing ‘thongs’, and the

      subsequent forcing of the sea kale in the dark, from the

      Paske family in Lincolnshire. Since they discontinued

      production some forty years ago, he has kept alive a

      tradition that began in Victorian England, when sea kale

      was a fashionable vegetable.

      If sea kale vaguely resembles celery, it doesn’t taste like

      it, СКАЧАТЬ