Where I play with food...

Or rather the idea of food.
Or even better: ideas of food.

It all started with a tiramisu. The recollection of how smooth and fluffy mascarpone can be.
Except I wanted it to be savoury.
Of course.
Why go the obvious way?
Now a couple of years back, I had created a pecorino and fava beans version for Easter. Seasonal and all. It had been a great success.
I realize now – looking for a post – that I'd never blogged the recipe. Naughty, naughty.
Alas, since it was an improvisation, the recipe might actually be lost in the meanders of my failing memory.

Oh well.
So this was the starting point.
I had guests on Saturday night and I wanted a show starter.
A seasonal show starter.
So no fava beans this time.

But it's puntarelle season and they are just a marvellous green.
Besides, they are absolutely Roman in essence.
And a welcome juicy crunch, a promise of spring in every bite.
Puntarelle are traditionally served with a sauce made of olive oil, lemon juice, anchovies, and garlic (sometimes, this is optional).
So the idea was – obviously – to recreate such sauce in the guise of a tiramisu, i.e. with a mixture of mascarpone and eggs.
Plus a biscuit base.

Ah. The biscuit base.
That could be a problem of course.
In the pecorino and fava beans version, I had done away with it, opting to replace it with raw and shelled fava beans instead, for a bit of crunch. But this time, I decided to use tiny croutons for added texture.

So there it is...



( Puntarelle tiramisu )