After one of my interactions with her I wrote down this:
"She is an old woman of about seventy, probably only reaching my shoulders if she were to stand up straight. Her wrinkles have marked similarity to the pale green cabbages she’s selling, and my eyes keep wanting to connect the two. Today she has some scratches on her face. I notice a bowl full of fresh eggs and imagine her being clawed by one less-than-happy hen when she went rustling through the coop this morning. She recommends this bright green leafy bundle. Unfamiliar to me, I ask how to cook it. “Crudo! Con l’olio e limone,” she replies, knowing instinctively to use common, basic words for my limited language skills. Her certainty convinces me to follow her sage instructions, and I buy the greens and a lemon."
After much research about what this lady actually sold me (that I subsequently bought every time I visited), I have concluded that it is a puntarelle, an Italian chicory. The leaves are quite bitter, but the inside is full of this almost white, crispy stalks that are actually hollow.
The other crazy vegetable that she gave me that I had never tried was agretti. These are little heirloom herbs that are actually quite rare. My vegetable lady told me to cook them in boiling, salted water for about 15 minutes, drain them, and season with olive oil and lemon. I don't enjoy them raw because they taste too much like grass. But when they are cooked, they are nicely acidic, salty, fresh, and taste something along the lines of spinach or cime di rapa (also known as broccoli rabe or rapini).
I have yet to find either of these vegetables here in America but have not given up hope just yet.
New York City!
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