Friarielli

Ingredients

• 1 kg friarielli (cime di rapa / broccoli rabe), thicker stalks peeled with a vegetable peeler
• 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil, generous; use more rather than less
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 peperoncino (dried chilli), crumbled
• 1 tsp fine sea salt, for the blanching water

Method

1. 1
   Wash the friarielli in several changes of cold water, agitating the leaves to dislodge trapped sand. Lift the greens clear of the water each time rather than pouring through a colander. They are clean when no grit settles at the bowl's base.
2. 2
   Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a full boil. Add the friarielli and blanch for 2–3 minutes — no longer. Drain, discarding the bitter blanching water entirely. The greens should be vivid and just yielding, bitterness present but no longer harsh.
3. 3
   Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pan over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and crumbled peperoncino. Cook until the garlic turns pale gold at its edges and the oil smells sweet and faintly spiced — this is where the dish lives or dies: garlic that scorches will make the oil acrid and the bitterness of the greens unforgivable.
4. 4
   Add the drained friarielli to the pan. Add a small splash of the blanching water if needed to create steam. Sauté, turning the greens through the oil, until they are fully wilted, glistening, and infused with the aromatics. The bitterness should be rounded and present, backed by garlic's sweetness and the chilli's warmth.