Agretti

Here is one of the wonderful surprises of this week's CSA box. As Andrew Griffin explains in the newsletter, agretti is the Italian cousin of the American West's tumbleweed. It starts out with slender succulent leaves with "a unique marine flavor and toothsome quality". As it matures, agretti becomes, like it's American cousin, a sprawling, dry and prickly shrub, which no-one would eat!

Here is what we did, with the help of the newsletter's recipes and advice:

Serves 2

• 1 bunch agretti, clean (we pulled the leaves from the hard branches and rinsed in cold water twice)
• 4 slices prosciutto
• 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Tear the prosciutto into small pieces and pan fry until crisp. Remove from the pan and reserve.
2. Heat up the olive oil and sauté the agretti until wilted (3 or 4 minutes are enough).
3. Toss the agretti and prosciutto together and serve warm.

It was a little too salty for my taste (the original recipe called for pancetta) but the crunchiness of the agretti was great and the flavors really pleasant.