Orecchiette with turnip greens is one of the traditional dishes of Apulian cuisine, especially from the Bari area and province, but it is now appreciated throughout Italy. It is a very easy and quick first course prepared with this pasta format also called "recchitelle" in Bari dialect.

Le orecchiette have precisely the shape of small ears and are made by mixing durum wheat semolina flour and water. The seasoning, on the other hand, is made from blanched turnip greens, whose bitterish taste is muted by a sauté made with oil, garlic, chili peppers and anchovies.

The recipe is really simple and the secret lies mainly in the blanching of the turnip tops, which must take place at the same time as the pasta is cooking. In fact, the orecchiette pasta cooks together with the turnip tops and from their water they absorb all the flavor.

For the success of the dish, it is good to use fresh turnip greens and not frozen, which tend to become too soft once cooked. So let's see how to cook this delicious Apulian dish according to tradition.

Recipe of orecchiette pasta with turnip tops

Ingredients for 3-4 people

1 kg turnip greens

3 fillets of anchovies in oil

1 clove of garlic

1-2 fresh chilies

Halls

30 g of extra virgin olive oil

200 g of durum wheat semolina flour

100 g of lukewarm water

The first thing to do is to devote yourself to the preparation of fresh orecchiette. To begin with, place the semolina flour on a pastry board and arrange it, forming a well. Add a pinch of salt and pour warm or room-temperature water in the center.

Begin to knead gently and continue until the dough is elastic and smooth. Give it a round shape, cover with a cloth and let it rest for fifteen minutes. After this time has elapsed, take some of the dough and set the rest aside.

Manipulate the piece of dough to make a 1 cm thick filoncino. Using a pastry cutter, slice the filoncino into discs by about 1 cm. Helping yourself with the tip of a knife, crush the disks on the floured table and turn each one over your thumb to give it the shape of a concave ear.

Repeat until all the dough is finished. At this point, keep the ready orecchiette aside and devote yourselves to the seasoning. Carefully clean the turnip greens, removing the outermost leaves and extracting only the flower and inner leaves.

Wash them under running water and dry them well. Then boil a pot of water and add salt. When the water has reached a boil, boil the turnip greens for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, you can devote yourself to sautéing. In a frying pan, pour a tablespoon of oil, a clove of garlic, the anchovy fillets removed from the oil, and a couple of fresh chilies.

Turn everything over to melt the anchovies And let it cook for 3-4 minutes. Ready to sauté, remove the garlic and turn off. After the 5 minutes have elapsed, add the orecchiette pasta to the pot in which the turnip greens are cooking and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Stir occasionally and transfer pasta and vegetables to the pan of the soffritto. Saute for 2-3 minutes and adjust the salt to your taste. Finally, turn off the stove, plate the orecchiette and season with a drizzle of raw oil.