Last summer I fell in love with Puglia. My house for a week in August had a vaulted stone ceiling, a large kitchen, and a rooftop terrace with a view of the sea. Searching out the traditional dishes of the region, I found much that was better suited for cold weather: heavy on the braised meats, winter greens like rapini and pureed fava beans. August was too hot and sunny for such warming winter food and after a day at the beach or in dusty little towns, all I wanted was simple food that required little cooking: fresh burrata and mozzarella, local tomatoes and olives, cold seafood salads dressed with olive oil and lemon. Along with a chilled bottle of local white wine, it was simple, fresh and perfect.
Now that it’s cold, my thoughts return to the winter cuisine of Puglia’s traditional dishes. My favorite pasta dish of that region is orecchiette con cime di rape, hand rolled pasta tossed with sautéed rapini, garlic and red pepper and generously dressed with extra virgin olive oil. This recipe is on every menu in Puglia and orecchiette is the region’s most famous pasta.
In Bari you can still find the old quarter of the city where the women sit outside their houses at tables set up in ancient marble alleyways, chatting with each other as they spend the morning rolling the pasta into the flattened discs called orecchiette, or “little ears”. A traditional cottage industry, the pasta is then dried in the open air on large screens and sold in shops and restaurants.
Rapini is a member of the mustard family and is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. Also known as rape, cimi di rape or broccoli rabe, you often see large fields of its yellow flowers that are grown for rape seed oil, better known as canola oil in the US. The leaves and broccoli-like flowers are bitter and pair well with fatty pork shoulder or roasted pork belly, but tossed with pasta and olive oil they especially shine in this dish.
Orecchietti con Cime di Rape (“little ears” pasta w/ rapini)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teas hot pepper flakes, or to taste
1 bunch rapini, cleaned and chopped (also called cimi di rape or broccoli rabe)
½ lb orecchietti pasta
1 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
There are two ways to make this dish: boil the rapini in a large pot of salted water until it’s cooked through, then remove to a sauté pan with the garlic and pepper, saving the water to boil the pasta; or sauté the raw rapini directly with the garlic and pepper. I like the first way best.
Bring a large pot of fresh water to the boil, salt it well with whole sea salt and add the rapini. Cook for 5 minutes until cooked through, then remove with a scoop. Meanwhile, add half the olive oil, the garlic and hot pepper to a large sauté pan and cook until the garlic is soft but not browned. Add the rapini and continue to cook to meld the flavors. Boil the pasta in the reserved water until al dente, then add the pasta to the rapini and toss with additional extra virgin olive oil, adding a generous amount of grated pecorino romano cheese.
For a heartier dish you can add Italian sausage, crumbled or sliced and browned.