Broccoli raab recipe: 59 photos
16 Broccoli Rabe Recipes
FAQ
When cooked the right way, broccoli rabe is tender, flavorful, and worth adding to your dinner plate. The trick to tempering broccoli rabe's signature bitterness is to blanch it before sautéing with garlic and red pepper flakes.
Broccoli rabe's florets are much smaller than those of its broccoli cousin, its stems are more slender, and its leaves more plentiful. Unlike with broccoli, however, all parts of broccoli rabe (Brassica rapa ruvo) are eaten — its stalks don't require peeling because they're not as thick and tough as broccoli's.
Broccoli rabe is the common name for the vegetable rapini, a close relative of the turnip, which closely resembles broccoli and broccolini. Particularly dense in Vitamin A (one serving is nearly 20% of the daily value), the vegetable is commonly used in Italian, Italian-American, and other cuisines.
In the UK, this vegetable is known as Rapini or Turnip Tops, in the US, Broccoli Rabe or Raab and in one of the places of its birth, so to speak, Italy, it has the more romantic sounding name of Cime de Rapa.
Broccoli rabe, also known as rapini, isn't the most well-known vegetable, but that doesn't mean you should count it out. The whole plant is edible, it's extremely easy to cook, and it's loaded with disease-fighting nutrients.