Orecchiette with Turnip Tops

Orecchiette with Turnip Tops

Duration: 50 min

Difficulty: Easy

Region: Puglia

Orecchiette with turnip tops are perhaps the most famous dish of traditional Apulian cuisine. Dish of poor origins and peasant tradition has been able to conquer all the tables over time, not only those of Puglia, but throughout Italy. There are variations, there are those who like to add crushed tarallini on top, giving a crunchy touch to the dish, and those who like to add some browned tomatoes together with the sauce.

Ingredients

For 4 people:

• 400 g of Orecchiette
• 1.2 kg of turnip tops
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 anchovy fillets in oil
• 1 chilli
• Tarallini or freselle (optional)
• 3-4 cherry tomatoes (optional)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• salt

How to Proceed

Take the turnip greens, wash them thoroughly under running water. Remove the thickest and toughest stems, remove the toughest outer leaves and the fattest stems.

Take a very large saucepan and fill it with water. Bring to the boil and add a pinch of coarse salt. Pour the turnip tops and cook until they are cooked until the stems are al dente.

In the meantime, take a very large frying pan, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, the chilli pepper and the two whole cloves of garlic with the crushed skin. Crumble some hard bread (even taralli or friselle are fine) and pour them into the pan. Also add the anchovy fillets and fry everything. Help yourself with a fork to flake the anchovies in the oil. There is also a variant in which, at this point, a few (very few) fresh tomatoes are added just to give that extra touch of colour. The tomatoes split in half are browned for a minute together with all the rest.

Drain the turnip greens well and then pour them into the pan. Brown them well.

Meanwhile, fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and then pour the orecchiette inside. If you like, you can cook the orecchiette together with the turnip tops. But you have to pay attention to the cooking levels.

When the orecchiette are cooked, drain them and pour them directly into the pan with the turnip greens. Remove the garlic cloves first. Sauté the orecchiette, stirring constantly over high heat. Make sure that the turnip tops and orecchiette brown well and then serve.

Orecchiette with turnip tops should be served piping hot