TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Orecchiette con Cime di RapaOrecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
Puglia’s little-ear-shaped pasta with a sauce of cime di rapa, a green resembling flowering rapeseed. A simple southern regional dish with deep savory flavor.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (4 servings)
- Finely milled semolinaFor handmade orecchiette. Ordinary wheat flour cannot be substituted.250 g
- Lukewarm water (35–40°C)Dissolve 5 g salt in it before use.125 ml
- Cime di rapa (flowering turnip greens)Remove the tough stems.500 g
- GarlicThinly sliced4 cloves
- Oil-packed anchoviesFor extra savory flavor4 fillets
- Chili1
- Extra virgin olive oil80 ml
Method
Knead the orecchiette dough
- 1 Gradually add 125 ml lukewarm water with 5 g salt dissolved in it to 250 g semolina, kneading for 10–15 minutes to make an elastic dough.
- 2 Wrap in plastic wrap and rest for 30 minutes.
Prepare the greens and aromatics
- 1 Remove the tough stems from the cime di rapa and divide into bite-sized pieces.
- 2 Thinly slice 4 garlic cloves.
- 3 MeanwhileWhile the dough rests.
Shape the dough into little ears
- 1 Roll the dough into a long thin rope and cut into small pieces. Drag each toward you across the worktop with the pad of your thumb to form an ear shape 2–3 cm in diameter.
- 2 MeanwhileWhile shaping, start bringing a large pot of water to the boil, with 10 g salt per 1 L water.
Boil the pasta and greens
- 1 Add the cime di rapa and orecchiette together to the prepared boiling salted water and cook until 1 minute before al dente.
- 2 Reserve 100 ml cooking water.
Make the anchovy oil
- 1 Place 80 ml olive oil, the sliced garlic, chili and anchovies in a frying pan and heat gently.
Ready when
When the anchovies have dissolved and the garlic is lightly colored, after about 3 minutes, increase the heat.
Combine the pasta, greens and sauce
- 1 Add the orecchiette and cime di rapa and toss over high heat for 1–2 minutes.
- 2 Adjust the consistency with cooking water; the dish is ready when the olive oil coats everything.
About this dish
In the old town of Bari in Puglia, elderly women set chairs on the cobbled lanes and continue making orecchiette by hand. This small pasta, whose name means earlobes, represents a skill handed down through generations in Puglian homes. Made with only flour and water and shaped without tools, using just the pad of a thumb, its distinctive rough surface cannot be reproduced by machines and holds sauce beautifully.
Cime di rapa, a bitter brassica green resembling flowering rapeseed, is a representative winter vegetable of Puglia. Its bitterness, the chewy texture of orecchiette, the savory flavor of anchovies and the aroma of garlic have supported the Puglian table for more than 1000 years.
Renowned as a wheat-growing region, Puglia supplies much of the wheat used for pasta throughout Italy. Orecchiette directly reflect the agriculture and food culture of their land.
Bring the full course home next weekend.
Bring every dish to the table at its best.
Choose the dishes you want to cook, and Chef Authen handles the shopping list and the day-of schedule. The Tabelia app turns everything from starter to main into one coordinated course in your kitchen.
- One shopping listBuilt automatically from your menu and any substitutions, ready to check off.
- One timelineEvery dish’s waiting and cooking time combined into a single schedule.
- Answers beyond the recipeFrom judging the heat to adapting on the fly, Chef Authen answers with concrete criteria, not guesses.