Market leftovers- turnip greens

Saturday’s Turnips from the market, had such beautiful greens, I followed Roberto’s advice and cooked them twice.
This is quite common for any leafy green in Tuscany.

Overcooking by boiling in salted water, tenderizes even the toughest stems.

Draining the greens and squeezing out all of the water and creating little balls is the base that often you can find in the market, ready for the second cooking, which then gives the greens their fabulous flavor that makes even kids eat them!

Twice cooked greens – Tuscan style

Finely chop the boiled greens.

Cover the bottom of a saute’ pan with extra virgin olive oil
Add sliced garlic. I don’t mince the garlic as it burns quickly, the trick of putting the garlic in cold oil also helps prevent burning.

Once the garlic is golden, slide the chopped greens into the pan and stir to flavor.

Salt to taste.

In restaurants and trattorias in town you often see Spinaci all piacere.. as you like.. which means you can chose from
all’olio, with oil,  aglio, olio e peperoncino– garlic, olive oil and chili pepper or all’agro– which is with oil and lemon.
All done in the second cooking.

Often I also add chili pepper flakes to this, especially when I can then use it as as a pasta sauce , Puglia style!

Orecchiette con greens

Broccoli rabe, turnip greens or kale are all great for this sauce.

Traditionally anchovies are also heated in the oil to give even another layer of flavor!