Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Recipe…A Rustic Dish for Passion

After the year-end holidays, the weeks leading up to Carnival, it was customary to consume the home provisions, set aside specifically for days when the garden didn’t offer much…

The last vegetables were gathered, cabbages and broccoli, turnip tops, and savoy cabbage…

And precisely the turnip tops, which my father sowed endlessly, were the vegetables that most withstood the winter’s shelter; it was his passion, which we had barely gotten used to, but he loved bitter and strong flavors.

After bringing them home, and assigning the unsuitable parts for us to the farm animals, my mother cleaned them thoroughly, and after cutting them into small pieces…

Not too small because my father said you need to see what you’re eating; going back to our tender tops, she transferred them to a pan on the wood stove, with the ideal seasoning inside; oil, garlic, and chili pepper, although my father didn’t like garlic, preferring onion, but in this case, he had to give in, though he wouldn’t see it… The trick was done!

Sometimes spaghetti was added, while on the days of pig slaughter, sausage appeared more often at home, and ended up flavoring the spicy tops sautéed in olive oil that he brought from the village.

Over time, turnip tops became one of my favorite dishes, precisely for their bitter taste,

Meeting my husband, I discovered that in his family it was also a cherished and habitual dish;

the only difference was they were called broccoli rabe with sausage… I, a Calabrian…

Enzo divides himself between two regions and two cuisines with a strong identity, Romagna and Neapolitan, the number of recipes and variations for me was endless…

My children love broccoli rabe with sausage, and at home, mixed terms are used, from every region that belongs to us as a family history…