Orecchiette con le Cime di Rapa
Rapini or broccoli rabe: bright green, decisive in flavour and intensely good for you. Fresh from the orto as we head towards winter and favoured in the kitchens of southern Italy in particular, it’s an ingredient we always looked for when we were in London but that we only really started to use regularly when we moved to Italy.
Intensely detoxifying and mineral rich (calcium, phosphorous, iron, vitamins A, B2 & C) you buy it by the arm-full, which means it never fits in the fridge properly, so you’re forced to cook with it immediately – and of course this makes it even more delicious.
As a member of the mustard family, the inimitable flavour of cime di rapa with its bitterness and piquancy makes it an incredible partner for a relatively neutral base note such as pasta or pastry, bread, or even eggs.
Perhaps best known as an accompaniment to orecchiette, the small ear-shaped pasta that comes from Puglia. Cima di Rapa is particularly good with monocultivar coratina olive oil.
Serves 4.
INGREDIENTS
300g Orecchiette Pasta (you can make this yourself using grano duro flour, or you can use shop bought pasta, which is also totally fine!)
1kg Cime di Rapa (you can replace with broccoletti)
4 Anchovy fillets
1 Garlic clove
1 tsp Peperoncino flakes or if you prefer 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and sliced
Seasoning to taste
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We use Tenuta Arcamone, an exemplary single grove, certified organic, monocultivar Coratina from Puglia. This oil is without question one of our favourites.
METHOD
Put on a large pasta pan to boil. Salt well.
Meanwhile, prepare the cime di rapa by cutting away anything that looks woody or mature and keeping only the most tender part of the florettes and leaves. Wash carefully. Then bring up a second, medium sized pan of water to boil, salt the water and drop in the cime di rapa for literally 1 minute, just to take the bite out of the stalks. Drain and set aside.
Now put your orecchiette pasta in to the boiling water to cook.
Then in a deep frying pan, gently warm the extra virgin olive oil along with the peeled garlic clove. Allow this to flavour the oil for around 5 minutes and then remove the garlic and discard. Then add the finely chopped anchovy fillets and the chilli and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the cime di rapa and coat well. Remove from the heat until your pasta is cooked.
Drain the pasta (reserving a ladle full of water in case you need) and then add the pasta to the pan of cime di rapa. Combine well and serve immediately with a further swirl of Tenuta Arcamone. This is a true taste of Puglia.