Wedding Flowers Magazine 2013

Rapini, also known as Broccoli Rabe (or Raab), or Broccoletti, is a common vegetable in Chinese, Italian, and Portuguese cuisine. The plant is related to the turnip, with spiked leaves around a green bud that resembles a small head of broccoli. Its small yellow flowers are edible. The flavor is somewhat nutty, and a little bitter.

Broccoli di Rape contains vitamins A, C, and K, plus potassium, calcium, and iron. broccoli di rapeRapa is the singular version of Rape, which acquired the feminine gender in the Italian language. The plant has large, dark green, ragged-edged leaves and grows to about 12 to 15 inches tall. They are called "broccoli di RAPE" (the correct Italian word -- not raab, and not rabe) because there are other vegetable plants that have broccoli - one that comes to mind is broccoli di cavolo.

The broccoli grow at the very base of the leaves' stems with smaller leaves than the rape and a flower similar to the American broccoli, though the two are not in the same plant family. One rapa plant has a number of broccoli, depending on the size of the plant and the way the broccoli are picked. This kind of broccoli has a thin stem that can be tough when left on the plant too long- they should be broken off before cooking. The head is small, and blooms into yellow flowers, depending on the age, and they are cooked whole, with leaves and stems.

The taste has various descriptions from bitter to pungent to nutty to "an acquired taste." Nonetheless, it is one of Italians' favorites. One way to counteract the spicy taste is to add a few tablespoons of vinegar to the dressing or while they are being cooked (not when steamed or boiled). We usually мейд them in one of two ways: we steamed them until they were tender, drained them and dressed them with garlic, olive oil, wine vinegar, salt and pepper -- or we steamed them and then sauteed them in a hot skillet with olive oil and garlic, just long enough for them to start getting crispy. I remember my grandmother also used them when she мейд polenta when they were in season.

When I was growing up, my grandparents planted a lot of rape seeds mixed in with fava beans and fodder to feed to the various animals. The mixture of the three was a healthy snack for the animals and gave the landscape visual appeal - at least when it all was upright! I remember Grandma being so mad sometimes when she came home from the fields.

The broccoli looked so good to people who passed by that they loved to pick them, but they left long trails of knocked-down forage, which мейд a much harder job of cutting it for the animals. One day Grandma saw this old woman in the middle of the field picking broccoli. She was livid! Her step became more hurried as she got closer and closer to the woman. Grandma, being a person who held nothing back, thought was going to feel so much better after she'd really let this old woman have it for trampling all over the field. Surprise! It was her mother! when she told Great-Grandma Christina that she had hurried over there to give her a piece of her mind, thinking she was some stranger, they couldn't stop laughing. Needless to say, it became a big joke whenever Great-Grandma Christina came to visit.

Claudia Palombo

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