Hi Frank! I can only imagine how much it cost! What a treat though. How wonderful that you could get your hands on some. It’s a delicious vegetable. Friarielli are so good too. All of those greens are glorious. Where did you manage to find it? I hope you are well. I’m sure you’re are making delicious things.

Update from me: I actually found a source for cime di rapa from Puglia! It costs a bomb but was totally worth it. Brought back those taste memories from our trip to Bari! Interesting how different it is physically as well, with longer more slender branches, “leafier” leaves and a lighter green color. And yes, a more delicate yet very flavorful taste.
Now I need to find friarelli!

Thanks for reading! Yes, it is a glorious dish. I hope you do give it a try!

Oh, thanks Frank! I’m such a fan of your work so I’m so thrilled when you stop by and read my posts. I loved your post on this dish as well. As for friarielli versus cime di rapa… Oh boy, that was the rabbit hole! They do seem to be the same plant but not exactly the same. It was the most confusing thing in the world to me, it’s the same but not the same. Friarielli seem to be harvested earlier and they use a specific part of the plant and some people were using the same latin word and others weren’t. There are countless articles online that supposedly answer definitively whether they are the same thing and people wrote different things. (All of these articles show that Italians are confused too!) If you look at the vegetables, they look slightly different. I think a farmer or experienced gardener might need to be consulted! Can the same latin plant name still have hybrids that lead to different flavor profiles and growing times? What a mess! Bari is fabulous. I need to go to Puglia more. Like Calabria (where my dad was from), it’s so far away. If you look up some Italian articles on the two veggies and understand better, please let me know!

Anyway, I love orecchiette with broccoli rabe. It’s dear to my heart as my paternal grandfather Lorenzo was from a small town just outside of Bari, which I finally got to visit last year. And as I said before only this way. I tried it once with sausage and it didn’t do much for me. For me, it’s anchovies all the way.