Rapini (Brassica rapa), known in English as broccoli rabe or broccoli raab and in Italian as cime di rapa, is a leafy green vegetable grown for its slender stalks, jagged blue-green leaves and clusters of small, immature broccoli-like flower buds. Despite the look of those buds it is not a kind of broccoli but a relative of the turnip, and its defining trait is a clean, assertive bitterness. A staple of southern Italian and Portuguese cooking, it is most often blanched and then sauteed hard with garlic, chilli and olive oil, and is the classic green of Puglia served with orecchiette and crumbled sausage.