Arugula and Rapini: Italian Spring Greens for Fabulous Side Dishes

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Linda Dalal Sawaya, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Sautéed kale with red onions © linda dalal sawaya 2015

Yesterday at a party I hosted for my longtime gardening friends visiting from Canada, their farmer friends, Shari Sirkin and Bryan Dickerson of Dancing Roots Farm in Troutdale, were among the guests.

While checking out my organic garden, Shari noticed a lot of what she called rapini which I have been braising with garlic and red chili pepper flakes in olive oil and serving as a side dish to pasta. Apparently many varieties of brassicas, including kale and broccoli, that are now flowering can be called rapini.

I had met Shari and Bryan at Portland Slow Food events in the past year and it was a pleasure to have them in my garden. Their farm is now supplying many of Portland's fine restaurants with fresh seasonal produce, including rapini.

Arugula and rapini © linda dalal sawaya 2015

One great thing about this super nutritious vegetable is that it is a "cut-and-come-again" type of plant. The brassicus want to produce flowers to make seeds for the future, so if you keep cutting these surprisingly sweet and sometimes tender stems with blossoms, the plant will continue to produce more. This along with arugula are excellent accompaniments to Mediterranean-inspired meals.

Braising or sautéing rapini is quick and simple: just heat olive oil, add sliced garlic, and add washed and drained greens, sprinkle on a couple dashes of chili pepper flakes; stir a few times, cover to steam a bit, and voila: a gourmet side dish for your dining table. In Alice's Kitchen, mother would have usdrizzle our classic garlic, lemon, and olive oil dressing over it steamed or sautéed.

Arugula is fabulous solo or as an addition to any salad; with simple cheeses and sun dried tomatoes, and when added at the last minute to home made pizza. Just drizzle plain arugula with lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, top with a bit of lemon zest, and that's all needed to make a simple quick salad and enhance arugula's naturally spicy flavor. Add pine nuts, red onion, a bit of sumac, some cooked chick peas, and take it to another level.

Both arugula and rapini are Italian words that have come into our American culinary vocabulary without translation. In Arabic, arugula is called rocca as derived from the English word for it, rocket, which came from the French roquette, that came from the Latin eruca sativa, and the Italian rucola.

Middle Eastern recipes combine arugula with garbanzo beans in a salad called jarjeer, eat it as a side dish with the famous fava bean dish, ful mdammas, and even prepare it with roasted eggplant.

We in the Pacific Northwest are fortunate with so many abundant farmers' markets to easily obtain these diverse seasonal produce choices that were unheard of not so many years ago in most American kitchens or gardens simply elevating our home cooked meals to healthier and more exciting dimensions.

If you are truly adventurous, you could try your hand at making the southern Italian bitters/digestif, rucolino with your arugula!

Buon appetito and sahtine!!