Puntarella with bagna calda

Puntarella is one of those strange looking, slightly bitter vegetables beloved of Italians (and me). A member of the chicory family, it appears in Italian delis around Christmas and into the spring. It’s one of those vegetables which, in ancient times, kept scurvy away during the winter months. It has a rounded stem made up of small stalks with green, pointy leaves which, my friend Mary Contini at Valvonna and Crolla where I buy it tells me, are very good for wrapping aroun