Comments on: Dandelion recipes: Italian-style greens.

By: heinlien

heinlien — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:37:21 +0000

chee-kau-dee-ah. is what my mother called it

By: Brandon Chavannes

Brandon Chavannes — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:07:39 +0000

Here is also a great recipe. Take a large rondo style pan and cover the bottom with a high temperature oil. Peanut or Extra virgin olive oil are my favorite. Throw in 3 or 4 big chunks of pancetta or bacon if you can’t find it. cook until the pancetta is brown on all sides then add the puntarelle. season liberally with a good salt. Maldon or Sea Salt is fine. add 2 pinches of crushed red pepper. I strongly recommend grinding the crushed red pepper in a coffee grinder before adding it as it will release more oils and have a finer texture. Do the same with some toasted cumin. Once the puntarelle has cooked down add the juice from a whole lemon and 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the greens have soaked up most of the liquid in the pan season again with salt and fresh cracked pepper. serve in a dish and garnish with creme friache if desired

By: Brandon Chavannes

Brandon Chavannes — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:57:25 +0000

I believe you might be thinking of puntarelle (sp?) Its not actually the exact same green, but they are very close and are usually substituted with each other. They also look very similar.

By: frank granieri

frank granieri — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:51:46 +0000

My grandmother used to take me as a young boy and go to a field adjacent to our home; we would pick approx. 10 shopping bags of Cicoria (we have always pronounced it as if it were spelled) chicaught’eeuh. Everyone ate cicorie at the time. the best ones to eat in a salad are those that you pick wild just after they come out of the ground. They are small and you need a lot of them but with onions, a light sprinkling of olive oil, regular white wine vinegar, salt and pepper made into a salad eaten along with some hard cheese, hard crusty bread and a glass of red wine…..as we say in New Jersey……forget about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, this salad goes especially well with Italian sausage that you could boil first to get rid of some fat, then saute for a short time in olive oil and garlic. After you have eaten this spectacular salad peel then slice an apple, add some salted almonds and sliced peaches then enjoy together with a little Grappa…………and all is well with the world.

By: Mario Restive

Mario Restive — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:51:58 +0000

I have been cultivating Wild Burdock for a few years now and working on developing some new food products with it. Currently I have a nice pizza topping made from Burdock stems of young plants, cut into small pieces and sautéed. Friends and family seem to love it, sort of a Wild Greens Pizza. I have a few recipes if anyone is interested.

My family has enjoyed eating the Burdock stems for years, in more of an omelet form that is fried in olive oil, we called it Cardoon.

By: mike nardone

mike nardone — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:48:06 +0000

just planted a few rows of italian dandelion.cant wait for the crop,they are good cooked in olive oil and garlic,or picked fresh and eaten raw in a salad. the experts say this green is good for the kidneys

By: Davis Blanchard Wind Chimes

Davis Blanchard Wind Chimes — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:59:02 +0000

I like the French Dandelions best, but have not been able to locate the seed I once had in Eugene OR. That particular seed grew some enormous fleshy leaves, and the plants were almost bushy. They bloomed yellow flowers, so were not the Italian blue flowering type of chicory.

By: Jessie Dobbs

Jessie Dobbs — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:38:54 +0000

The other name to search for is Cichorium intybus. It is a chicory plant which is related to the dandelion family.

By: Jessie Dobbs

Jessie Dobbs — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:30:02 +0000

“Catalogna Frastagliata Italian Dandelion Greens” – this is the term that I had get in order to acquire the seeds for the european plant which american dandelions look like. Most italians who looked for that taste found out quickly that in order to replicate the flavor of the above noted plant – one had to trim american dandelions when they were very young – and on the full moon (way before the head ever had a chance to turn white). This is an interesting addition to my collection of plants we call “greens”.

By: crabappleherbs

crabappleherbs — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:09:30 +0000

Hi Diana. I think you’re pronouncing “cicoria” — technically Italian for chicory, but chicory and dandelion leaves are used interchangeably, and you often hear Italian-Americans calling dandelion cicoria (pronounced chee KO ree ah, with a trilled r).