Friarielli

The above photo is NOT mine - it is the public-use photo from Google.com.

One of my most favorite things about living here in Italy is the seasonal, varied produce.  I'm a HUGE fan of vegetable greens, and that, fortunately, is one thing Italy does REALLY WELL.  In the USA, I ate swiss chard, mustard greens, and kale all the time.  In Vietnam, we ate rau muống at every meal.  Here, the green of choice is friarielli.  I have done a little research and it is apparently broccoli rabe, but for whatever reason I don't think of it as such.  To me, it tastes like a crisper, snappier mustard green.  Anyway, it's growing in our garden and today I grabbed a handful.  I brought it in and washed it, and while it was drip drying I sauteed up about four cloves of chopped garlic in a little olive oil with some spring onions I had also picked from the garden.  Once the garlic started lightly browning I threw in the roughly-chopped friarielli and sauteed it just long enough for the green color to deepen (about two minutes at medium-low temperature) and last-minute added about a tablespoon of freshly-shredded parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

It was quickly devoured, while still piping hot, by D and myself.  And it was sooooo delicious!  I will never tire of this food!