Cima di rapa

Cima di rapa (Brassica rapa), known in English as broccoli rabe or turnip tops, in Italian as cime di rapa and in Portuguese and Galician as grelos or nabiça, is a leafy green grown for its slender stalks, jagged blue-green leaves and clusters of small, unopened broccoli-like flower buds, all of which are eaten. Botanically it is not a broccoli but a leafy, flowering form of the turnip, and its defining trait is a clean, forthright bitterness backed by a green, mustardy warmth. The heart of Puglian cooking, it is most famously blanched and then sauteed hard with garlic, chilli, anchovy and olive oil and tossed through orecchiette; in Portugal and Galicia the same green is simmered into hearty pork-and-broth dishes.