Catalogna (‘Catalonia’; the type of chicory in the picture on the left, the English name of which I haven’t found anywhere yet) is one of the leaf vegetables I’ve got acquainted with here in Turin. What I usually do is that I steam it and then just eat it as a side dish with salt, pepper, olive oil, and maybe a bit of lemon. However, this time I decided to try something different with some leftover catalogna (already steamed but without any condiments) I had in my fridge. I actually liked the new side dish much more than the old one.
If you’ve never had catalogna before, you should probably be warned that it has rather a bitter taste and might, therefore, not please everyone’s taste buds.
Catalonia Dreaming
Catalogna
Sunflower seeds
Garlic
Gluten-free tamari sauce
Sesame seed oil
-1. Wash the catalogna leaves and cut them in 2-cm-long pieces.
0. Steam the catalogna until ready (but with a bite).
1. Peel and chop as much garlic as socially acceptable.
2. Heat a teflon pan (without oil), then heat the steamed catalogna, the garlic and a handful of sunflower seeds in it for a few minutes, continuously stirring the ingredients.
3. Turn off the heat, add a bit of tamari sauce and sesame seed oil, mix the ingredients well and serve.
Annika
