As I mentioned last week, broccoli rabé is growing vigorously in our garden.
Also known as rapini, broccoli raab, and broccoletti, these bitter leaves and flowers are widely used in Mediterranean cooking. We’ve never grown them before, but were enticed to do so by promises that the entire plant was edible, with a broccoli-like flavour.
We harvested some leaves for the first time a couple of days ago, and brought in a head of broccoli, cos lettuce and a handful of peas as well, in case the rabé didn’t pass muster with the boys…
I was somewhat put off by the small stinging spikes on the tips of the leaves. Interestingly, these seemed to disappear a short while after harvesting…
The prickles reminded me of Joanna and Carl’s nettle and potato gnocchi, which I’d been wanting to try for ages. It seemed like a great first use of our rabé!
I followed the recipe closely, substituting the following ingredients:
- 100 grams of broccoli rabé leaves – I removed and discarded the stalks, chopped the remaining leaves up coarsely, poured boiling water over them, and let them sit for a few minutes. After draining, these were allowed to cool and then the water was squeezed out of them.
- 600g (2 large) white sebago potatoes, peeled, chopped and microwaved until soft, then mashed through a ricer
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt
- Ground black pepper, a generous few twists
- 150 grams (1 cup) plain (AP) flour
The drained, blanched leaves should be chopped as finely as possible – mine were a little coarse, which gave the gnocchi untidy edges. The finished pasta should probably also have been smaller, but I had trouble rolling the dough any thinner…
Despite their rustic appearance, these were absolutely delicious! We served them simply with Pepe Saya butter, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and Nerone Grana Padano cheese. We also made broccoli pasta – a firm favourite with our sons – but struggled to convince them to eat it instead of the gnocchi…
We’ll definitely be making this again! Thanks Joanna and Carl for such a great (and adaptable) recipe. Best of all, we’ve figured out that the broccoli rabé which grows so easily and well in our garden is not only edible – it’s delicious!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I’d never even considered that you can add things like this to gnocchi! Yet another reason I need to make it myself. I love the harvest Celia!
Claire, thank you! Carl’s recipe is brilliant – I’m going to try using my chard next!
Fantastic images and recipe. Your magical touch once again :)
ED, you’ve very kind, but these were chunky lumps – I’ll have to work on finessing how they look! :D
What a yummy meal Celia! I might make this with some of my Kale- its just starting to sprout. I only planted my pea seeds this week so it will be a while until I get to harvest any, but with minus 2 again this morning it’s not worth taking any chances :)
Oooh Becca, that’s a good idea. We’ve got heaps of kale growing at the moment as well! Boy, it’s been cold in Canberra – hope the weather improves for you soon.. xx
Your garden produce looks wonderful! How interesting that the spikes disappear after a while. That gnocchi looks fantastic too. I must branch out and try some different varieties rather than my standard plain potato.
SG, I think the spikes are engorged hairs, so when the leaf is cut and wilts slightly, the spikes do too? This was great fun to make, but next time I’ll chop the leaves up even finer…
How odd – I’d never heard of this, but suddenly it’s all over the place. I’ve just seen another article featuring it too!
Amanda, it grows like a weed here, which is great as everyone will eat it! It’s quite bitter raw though…
So glad you and your family liked broccoli rabe. Why did you discard the stalks? They are delicious, if any is woody, peel like you would broccoli stalk or gai lan stalk.
Norma, it’s always easier to get leaves past my boys if I discard the stalks – that’s the case with the rainbow chard as well. They’re not wasted – the worms or the chickens get them.. :)
Delicious Celia. What a creative use of broccoli rabe!
My mom is obsessed with broccoli rabe. For her standby recipe, she gives it a quick blanch and then sautes it in olive oil, garlic and just a hint of chicken stock. She eats it as is, and I like to put it on my pizza. I’ll have to tell her about this one. I’m glad that your gnocchi turned out good :)
That’s a very easy recipe, Emilie, thank you! With the way it’s growing, I’ll be looking for all the recipes I can find! :)
I have never added anything to gnocchi either but i’m definitely going to try this. It looks very tasty.
Maureen, hope you like it as much as we did! Do check out Carl’s instructions here..
http://www.carllegge.com/2011/04/nettle-gnocchi-recipe/
What a beautiful looking harvest. I love all the depth of the green colours. And that’s a gorgeous looking gnocchi. I love how simple it appears yet it must have been absolutely delicious. I love meals like that xx
Charlie, there’s something very rewarding about being able to pull food in from the garden and cook it up for dinner. I honestly never thought I’d say that – I came into the whole gardening thing very late, and even after a couple of years, I’m still marveling at whatever we manage to grow! :)
Perhaps the gnocchi prompt I needed Celia. I’ve been musing on gnocchi for weeks now and still not made any…. it could be gnocchi time :-)
(ps.got the spelt today- thank you.)
Brydie, cool! Hope you have fun with the spelt!
That is fantastic Celia, It must be so satisfying to make dinner from your garden. Not long before I can pick some rainbow chard (I hope).
Glenda, the chard is going gangbusters here, hope you get to harvest some soon! x
My kind of comfort food – and so satisfying. Never heard of this vegetable – always learn something from you
Sally, it’s the first time we’ve tried growing it, so it’s a great relief to find out it’s not going to just end up as chook fodder! :)
It’s well and truly nettle season here! They are everywhere as is common on properties that have had sheep grazing. As I don’t have the broccoli rabe I might head over for the nettle recipe. Last year we made nettle pasta and the kids loved it. Absolutely magnificent harvest.
Thanks Alison! You’re braver than me, harvesting nettles! I didn’t even like the stings on the rabe! (I’m a wuss, I know.. :))
Exquisite looking gnocchi Celia – I love the bursts of green.
:-) Mandy
Ahh you’re kind, Mandy, but I think they’re a bit clunky looking. Delicious though! :)
Celia – great to see the recipe travel so well and your lovely take on it.
It’s great food, rich, tasty and satisfying.
Da iawn – as they say here :)
Carl, I love that it came from you via Jo to me – Wales to Bristol to Sydney! :)
Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
Not a vegetable I know, but it sounds lovely; I too get put off by spikes and hairs on leaves and thanks for trying the recipe – all inspired as you know by the wonderful Carl Legge :) On a loosely related subject I froze a big litre bag of nettle soup back in the spring when we made a batch and fed it to my eight year old nephew when he visited. We didn’t tell him what was in it, till after he had agreed it was delicious and asked for more. His face was a picture – a mix of ‘oh, what!!’ followed by pride that he had eaten nettles and survived :)
Hehehe…brave little man! Although I guess he didn’t know it at the time! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe, we are definitely making it again! xx
Yum. This sounds and looks amazing. I’ve made pumpkin and beetroot gnocchi before, but have never thought of adding broccoli rabé. Definitely one for my ‘recipes to try’ list.
Oooh, now there’s an idea, thank you! We’ve just got beetroot coming up now in the garden…
I’ve never used broccoli rabe… sounds like a great thing to grow – very frugal because you can use it all. Great sounding gnocchi too. OH and it seems you have another Welshman commenting on your posts :D – da iawn indeed.
Ha! Not just another Welshman, but the originator of the recipe! :)
Thank you, and tell me – how does one pronounce da iawn?
Ahha! ‘da’ is how it is written, with an elongated a (as per the last a in ahha). I’m not sure how to write iawn. Try this (eeaawn). Of course, it depends where in Wales you live.
Hehehe..thanks Nick. I’ll practice. :)
There’s an exam next week…
I really really like gnocchi and yours look so good Celia. It’s a great way to fill Tummies on a budget, but to my mind gnocchi is luxuriously satisfying and a great way to tuck veggies into a child’s diet. However as a young Mum I failed to get my gnocchi badge – where were you when I needed you Celia!
Jan, I don’t know that it’s something Small Man will ever truly love, but Big Boy adores gnocchi! I’ve only ever made it a handful of times, but will definitely do it more often from now on!
I am not surprised the Gnocchi was the top pick,. They look so good you clever little gardener you
Thanks love! If you ever need any, you know where we are.. :)
Your gnocchi looks delicious! I really want to try making gnocchi and I just watched a how-to video on it, but they always say you should have a potato ricer to do the job properly and I don’t have one yet. I’ve never tried broccoli rabe before, because I had always heard it is bitter. I’m glad you like it and its so wonderful to have it fresh from your own garden too!!
Mel, I was a bit nervous about the bitterness too, but it was fine once blanched and cooked into the gnocchi! I have a ricer, but it’s really hard to clean – I think I might need to find one that goes into the dishwasher!
What a great recipe. I still need to work on my shaping, which is a great excuse to make gnocchi again!
Yep, you and me both, Greg. Mine were very chunky – must practice! :)
Fabulous! I haven’t tried growing it yet, and was wondering what it was like to grow and eat, so now I have a much better idea, thank you! On my grow list for next year, and I’m saving the gnocchi recipe – perfect winter food !!
Claire, they’re like a slightly bitter version of the chard, but the blanching seemed to help a lot. I’ve found that removing the stems on all these leaves makes a big difference…
It looks delicious!
Thanks Tandy! x
That looks wonderful!
If I could only find someone else to eat it- my husband is not a fan of pasta or noodles. Unless of course there is a lot of MEAT on top of them!
Heidi, that’s hard…maybe you need to make it when the boys are home for a visit? :)
I first tried broccoli rabe at Italian restaurants and as you say, it’s delicious although I didn’t realise that there were little spikes! So do you mean that they disappear into nowhere once you harvest them? That’s really interesting! :o
Lorraine, I think the spikes are engorged hairs, and they seem to wilt a bit when the leaves are cut..
Hi, This looks very yummy and mouth watering. definitely i will try and let u know. you have described it really good anyone can follow it . thanks for a wonderful recipe.
Thanks Sunidhi! Not my recipe though – all the credit belongs to Carl on this one!
I’m impressed that you were brave enough to eat something with stinging spines on it – even if they do disappear after a while (and I’d guess certainly on cooking). Gnocchi too – as I remarked to Joanna last year, I’m pretty sure I’d end up with potato soup!
Caroline, that wouldn’t be a bad outcome, actually, I’d love to make green soup! Actually, I have a huge bag of leaves in the fridge at the moment, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Thanks! xx
Wow – this looks so good Celia. I’ve just planted some nettle seedlings – will have to bookmark this recipe for when they grow!!
You planted nettles on purpose? ;-) I think we have some growing in the garden as a weed! :)
This is a really unusual recipe, I hope to try it myself soon. Hope I can find nettles in my neck of the woods, I’ve never even heard of rabe!
Cin, the rabe goes under lots of names – rapini, cime di rapa, raab – you might find it under one of those. Having said that, I suspect the recipe will work even better with nettles! :)
Zia and I were just talking about making gnocchi. Had we not had so much else to do, I’m sure we would have made and frozen some. I’m going to send her this post, i’m sure she’ll be interested to see how you combined rapini with your gnocchi. They sound incredible, Celia! Unfortunately, rapini isn’t available in her area. I “import” it for here when I visit. :)
John, it’s growing like a weed in our garden! And it’s just started flowering, which is very exciting!