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Broccoli rabe in the news

rotuts

By rotuts
in Food Media & Arts

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

Hey, not all 'kales' are the same...flavor/texture varies greatly! ;)

 

Love me some sauteed broccoli raab (rapini.)

  • Like 3

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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naguere

naguere

Posted
Posted

Searched all over the place in Englandland and it is not known.

Martial.2,500 Years ago:

If pale beans bubble for you in a red earthenware pot, you can often decline the dinners of sumptuous hosts.

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

Hey, not all 'kales' are the same...flavor/texture varies greatly! ;)

 

Love me some sauteed broccoli raab (rapini.)

 

True enough. Kale chips and kale sauteed for ages... like greens...is OK

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Deryn

Deryn

Posted
Posted (edited)

I can't believe broccoli rabe/rapini is not available at all in Britain - maybe there is yet another name for it over there? I can't eat (much if any) kale or broccoli rabe any more but if I could, I would always choose the rabe.

Edited by Deryn (log)
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ElainaA

ElainaA

Posted
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26 minutes ago, gfweb said:

not as broccolini?

Actually broccolini and broccoli rabe (rapini) are different plants. Both are brassicas but broccoli rabe is a naturally occurring cultivar, native to Italy, while broccolini is a hybrid - a cross between broccoli and kai-lan, developed by a Japanese seed company. Broccoli rabe is much more bitter than broccolini. Which is why my husband prefers broccoli rabe and I prefer broccolini. :P

Broccoli rabe is also called cime de rape or sometimes simply rape. 

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If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero

But the library must contain cookbooks. Elaina

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
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1 hour ago, naguere said:

Searched all over the place in Englandland and it is not known.

 

According to Wikipedia, in the UK broccolini is known as "tenderstem broccoli".  But as @ElainaA points out broccolini is not at all the same as broccoli rabe -- even though they look similar.  Broccolini is perhaps my favorite vegetable:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccolini

  • Like 2

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Deryn

Deryn

Posted
Posted

I was under the impression that rapini has been trendy in the past ... but that was probably when the new crop of 'foodies' were babies so perhaps they have just 'discovered' it. I used to eat it a lot perhaps 20 or 30 years ago now.  And I think I recall seeing quite a few Italian recipes over the years that called for rapini. I am pretty sure Mario Battali would attest to the fact that Italians in some part of Italy have been consuming it for eons now.

 

p.s. I deleted 'broccolini' from my post upthread - those who said that rapini/rabe were not the same definitely are right. My bad. I loved the bitter rapini taste and was disappointed the first time I tried broccolini as I expected it to be similar.

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Beebs

Beebs

Posted
Posted

Choy sum tastes a lot like rapini, but a bit milder and without the bitterness.  I cook it just like rapini, Italian-style.

 

Rapini isn't hard to find here, but it does seem to be getting pricier over the last several years.  I don't know if that's due to trendiness or general increase in food price.  Choy sum you can get anywhere here, and it's relatively inexpensive, especially in the Asian groceries. It's definitely not trendy here!

 

 

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

Love, love, love rapini.   Came to it late in life and have much time to make up for.  And much as I respect @DiggingDogFarm, kale will have to do somersaults and back flips down the grocery store aisle before I will give it another chance. 

  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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Arey

Arey

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

Hey, not all 'kales' are the same...flavor/texture varies greatly! ;)

 

Love me some sauteed broccoli raab (rapini.)

I wholeheartedly agree. Not all kales are the same.  Some are worse than others.  However, sauteed broccoli raab  is good especially when paired with Italian sausage and penne rigate.

"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted (edited)
5 hours ago, naguere said:

Searched all over the place in Englandland and it is not known.

 

Yeah, apparently it's not well known there — what a pity.

 

Cima Di Rapa 'San Marzano' (broccoli raab/rapini) seeds available here (Newport near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire): 

"Unknown in the UK but easy to grow and loved on the continent. We introduced this in 2003 and it was a huge success. Everyone seemed to like it! Raab is related to turnip - but produces delicious sprouts like a slightly spicy flavoured sprouting broccoli."

 

re: kale

Other than very small, tender, mild-flavored leaves, for salad, from some cultivars, I never ever harvest kale until after a period of frost — it improves the flavor noticeably.

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
  • Like 3

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Broccoli rabe and its allies are great sauteed in butter with garlic... and three red pepper flakes... and perhaps finished with a little lemon and salt.

 I'm sorry but three red pepper flakes is just wrong. I never go with less than five.

  • Like 8

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 I'm sorry but three red pepper flakes is just wrong. I never go with less than five.

 

xD

 

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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