First harvest of what? Rapini (also known as Broccoli Rabe (or Raap or Raab), Broccoletti, Broccoli di Rape,Cime di Rapa, Rape, Rappi, Friarielli (in Naples), and Grelos)…call it what you like. I call it delicious.
I grow it in the greens bed in the vegetable garden here at Seven Oaks because I can’t buy it in the stores in Virginia, or at least I haven’t found it yet. In New York and on Long Island, you could find it occasionally in the upscale grocery stores, especially in early spring and late fall. It has a taste like a cross between mustard greens, Chard and broccoli (don’t gag yet – I swear, I love it). It has about 9 calories per one cup, and more than your daily dose of Vitamin K, plus it’s chock full of Vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, folate, and other good minerals and vitamins. Oh how I love this stuff….
But it’s hard to find, ready to eat or seeds. The only source I have found for seeds is Burpee, although Harris Seeds and a specialty Italian seed company supposedly sell it. Parks used to, and I miss that particular variety; it had a milder taste than the Burpee seeds which are shown here, all grown up and yummy, minutes before I harvested and cooked them.
To grow Broccoli Rabe, Rapini or whatever else you want to call it, all you need are seeds, plenty of full sunshine, decent garden soil, and cool weather. Hot weather makes the things bolt and while the yellow flowers are pretty (and tasty too), you’ll lose your crop quickly.
Now what do you do with it once you grow it? Today, I made a recipe adapted from Clara’s Kitchen
, a terrific little book of kitchen wisdom, recipes and stories by 97 years young Clara Cannucciari. Here’s my recipe. Enjoy!
Italian Recipe! Easy! Broccoli Rabe, Beans and Tortellini
Harvest about 2 cups of fresh broccoli rabe and dice it into quarter inch pieces. Cook about 1/2 cup of tortellini and five minutes before they are set to finish, throw the broccoli rabe into the pot and stir it. Open a can of Great Northern beans, rinse about half a cup, and a minute before the timer goes off for your pasta and green, toss the rinsed and drained beans into the pot too. Give it a good stir. Drain and rinse, then put it on a plate. Mince a clove or two of garlic. In a saucepan (or dry out your pot and reuse it) drizzle some olive oil and cook the garlic for 20 seconds. Add the garlic to the plated greens. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with Parmesan and hot pepper flakes, and enjoy. Satisfying, nutritious, and full of good stuff…..real food….takes only about 15 minutes to make and will satisfy you for hours. (Thanks, my pretend Grandma Clara! for the idea from your cookbook).
Today my garlic and broccoli rabe were both organic and grown in my garden. There is nothing like knowing you grew the food on your plate, knowing it is organic and grown not 20 feet from your home. Amazing!
Happy gardening!
Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.
I am growing braoccoli rabe this year for the first time ever. I’ve never even eaten any but it looks easy and I like broccoli and all the other stuff you listed in its flavor. My plants look great but aren’t ready. What am I looking for when it’s ready to harvest?????? Thanks.
Hi there! Great question. You can eat them at any time during the growing process, but I wait until the tiny flowers begin appearing near the top (generally 6-8 weeks after they emerge). I snip leaves and stalks off and leave the main plant to try and get more. Good luck! Hope the recipe helps.
I don’t have flowers yet but I think they’re coming soon. Thanks for the help.
We are growing Rabe from seeds this year – we planted them (they are still in the house) and they have started to grow. Question…..do I need to trim them down at all? It seems like they are just going to grow too tall and then flop over. Thanks for your help!!
Hi Kess, they will get floppy inside the house. You need to harden them off (acclimate them gradually to the great outdoors) for a few days then transplant them into the garden. They do get tall and floppy. The only reason to trim them is to eat them – you just snip off the tops, cook and enjoy, leaves, stems and all. Good luck!
Thank you for your help! I live in NJ – think we can plant them outside now? Or is it still too cold at night?
Thanks again for your help
Kess
Hi Kess,
I think you “should” be okay to plant them outside in NJ, but I would wait another week or so. The frost free date for your area is probably around Mother’s Day, which tells me there is still danger of frost. While broccoli rabe can take cool to cold temps, a frost will turn the leaves brown. (Been there, done that, have a few ragged looking ones out in the garden now as a result.) My inclination is to wait another week or two. If you have an area you can move them outside during the day, you can move the pots to a sunny spot during the day and pull them into an enclosed space at night. This will acclimate them to the outdoors and protect them from frosts. You can chance planting them in the garden but have something ready, like a clean empty soda bottle cut in half to use as a cloche or mini greenhouse in the event of a deep frost or freezing temps predicted. Waiting might be best but it is up to you.
thanks – for all of your help – we will wait. I will let you kow how we do!!
Kess
I grew broccoli rabe this year because I liked the rabe greens I bought at the store so much that I was purchasing it every few days. I am growing it in a raised bed, with soil of Ohio clay amended with compost, manure and Miracle Grow Organic Garden Soil and aged 1 year over winter. The temp has been 65-75F here in the Bellbrook, Ohio area, and water is from weekly rainfall of at least 1″ per week. However, my home-grown rabe (at 4 weeks old) is very stringy and woody and so bitter as to be inedible. The rabe at the store has flower buds and stems at least 2X thicker that the rabe from my garden. What am I doing wrong to get such inedible greens?
Hi Vicky, thanks for your question. What variety did you grow? I find that once it flowers, the stems are woody, but the leaves should still be tender. I just peel off the leaves and florets and eat them. Have you had the pH of the soil tested, too? I’ll look into this…not entirely sure what’s going on. I’m thinking variety or pH may be at issue.