Rapini or Broccoli Raab is my idea of a perfect cooking green. Its sturdy, pungent and versatile. It has a slightly sweet flavor tempered with a turnip-like pungency.
It is, in fact, more closely related to turnips than to broccoli, though both are in the cruciferae family like the Brussels sprouts we talked about last week.
Rapini pairs well with strong flavors like garlic, Parmesan cheese, mushrooms, salty meats and anchovies, making it the perfect green to include in simple pasta dishes. It also has an affinity for fish sauce and oyster sauce, making it great in Asian dishes. In fact, Rapini, called Choy Sum in Chinese, is one of the most popular vegetables in Hong Kong and Southern China. Slightly different than thick-stalked Chinese Broccoli, to which it is closely related.
Winter time is when cooking greens like Rapini are at their best. The cold weather keeps them sweet, taming any potential bitterness.
Mariquita Farm brings us some wonderful recipes.
Heres a nice rundown of many of the cooking greens. And heres a recipe for a Chinese preparation of Rapini or Choy Sum.
Weve got plenty of time to enjoy all the cooking greens as the favas and asparagus and sweet peas wont be harvested for quite awhile. What is your favorite green?
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I absolutely LOVE broccoli raab. Usually I blanch it and then put it in a frying pan with some chopped garlic, raisins, pinenuts and EVOO. Add a little of the water used for blanching at the end to add in a bit of the bitter flavor and put with your favorite meat/fish/tofu/pasta.
is blanching it necessary prior to cooking? I sauteed some this weekend and just couldn't get past the super bitter flavor -- and I am a bitter greens fan. The Andy Boy rapini I got was just a little *too* bitter for my taste, though.