cima di rape

One of the revolutions in my cooking was the first time I had "cima di rape." Now, there are going to be some of you who are going to say "oh yes, broccoli rabe." Well, NO.

"Rape" is a turnip, and "cima" is the "top" of something. Cima di rape, strictly speaking, are turnip greens. The turnips they come from do not really amount to much, and the plant is grown, when it is grown, for the greens. They look a little like broccoli rabe, but they are not at all close to each other, in my view. They ARE related, botanically, as both broccoli rabe and turnips are "cruciferous" vegetables. All that means, by the way, is that their flowers form a small cross pattern. Americans seem to be more familiar with the broccoli rabe, so I've seen cima called just that. When you see the two of them together, however, the differences are clear.

Cima are definitely "greens." They look like greens. They're light, fluffy leaves, with some stem, not a lot. Broccoli rabe, to me, looks very much like a big bunch of extensively tall broccoli. The stems are much tougher. I am going to focus on cima today, because that's what I cooked.

I love broccoli rabe. I think every southern Italian does. It's one of those "talismanic" foods for us. We remember eating it often, by itself, in pasta, in pasta with sausage, with sausage and no pasta, as leftovers with eggs, on sandwiches, etc. It's not the prettiest vegetable, but I know people who eat it every night if they can. But I love cima di rape even more. And when I see it, I grab it.

These are both vegetables that are not for the timid. They have a bitterness to them that you either react to positively, or push away on your plate. I think that's why the vegetables are combined with pork products so much, as I think that pork is the "sweetest" of meats, and it balances the bitterness. I happen to like it "straight up" with some garlic, which probably says something about my personality. But it's not just mine. Last night, my friend Ray was cooking with me. Ray is from Asia, and he did not know this vegetable. When he tasted it, he said "it's good. It's a vegetable you have to accept on its own terms." Sort of like me. And sort of like my friends who really like it.

When you get cima, or broccoli rabe, you have to do the "stem test." There is a point where you will "see" that the stem becomes very tough, thick and is clearly not edible. There ARE cooks who take the stalks and painstakingly peel them, in order to get to the softer part underneath. I can't be bothered, and I take a big, sharp knife and cut it at that point. Then I proceed with the recipe.

With either of these vegetables, like I said with my first entry on greens, if you boil them quickly, you will reduce the bitterness, but you will never get rid of it. My feeling about this, is that if you're going to get rid of the bitterness, you may as well eat another vegetable. So what I do is, after I've gotten rid of the stems, I take two nice big cloves of garlic, peel them and SLICE them into thin slices. I do this because I like eating garlic with these vegetables. I put enough oil in a big pan, in order to cover it. That's all I need. If there is too much vegetable to put in the pan at once , that's fine. I add half of it, and then let it sizzle until it just begins to collapse. Then a pinch of salt, and the garlic go in. They get stirred around, and if there's more vegetables, they go in too. Stir it all around until it collapses some more. If the vegetables look too dry, and start to scorch, add a bit of water. That should finish the cooking process, IF you want it to. At this point, you can do what really big fans do, and add some hot red pepper. If I'm eating it myself, that's exactly what I do. If I'm not, I don't. Then, when it's finished, add a good "glug" of olive oil to the greens. They will essentially drink up that oil, and make a lovely finishing sauce for your greens.

Make a big pot of this. Enjoy it as a vegetable, or do one of the other things above. Or put it on a pizza. It's your choice.