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lantana
11-20-2010, 03:40 PM
I have never cooked broccoli rabe, but I bought some sauteed with olive oil and garlic from a local shop last week. I really liked it and found a simple recipe--first blanching, then sauteeing with olive oil and garlice and red pepper flakes. OK. I think I can manage that. DH tackled part of the grocery list, and I put down 3 bunces of broccoli rabe. So he picked them up. I guess I thought a bunch was going to look like a collections of small broccoli stems and florets (like what I bought pre-made). However, they are like old-fashioned bouquets for a wedding. Each is about 50% leaves and 50% florets. Do I treat these as two separate things and make a mess of greens and a pan of florets and stems separately? Or do you cook it all together? If all together, what did they do with the leaves from what I bought? Maybe they threw out half of the edible portion? Thanks for help!
HealthyinMN
11-20-2010, 03:56 PM
Are you sure you didn't buy Broccolini first?

http://www.themarketoflafayettehill.com/images/broccolini.jpg

Whenever we buy Broccoli Rabe (rapini), it always comes in a large bundle of leaves and small florets - which, yes, you use all of.

http://www.themarketoflafayettehill.com/images/broccoli_rabe.jpg
lantana
11-20-2010, 04:09 PM
Bingo, Joe. Thanks for the pictures. I did have broccolini first. The bunches DH bought today are broccoli rabe. I'll be cooking it tomorrow and hoping for the best, particularly since I have 3 bunches of it.
margeslp
11-20-2010, 04:24 PM
Bingo, Joe. Thanks for the pictures. I did have broccolini first. The bunches DH bought today are broccoli rabe. I'll be cooking it tomorrow and hoping for the best, particularly since I have 3 bunches of it.

I had a wonderful first course that was broccoli rabe sauted in garlic and olive oil and sweet Italian sausage. A real treat. I consider those who enjoy the bitter greens to have a well developed palate.
My son lives in east New Haven in an old Italian neighborhood. When he was new on the block, one of the ladies greeted him with broccoli rabe as you were planning to serve it.