Turnip tops

The Neapolitans name them "friarielli" whereas those who are from the province of Avellino name them "vruoccoli".

Turnip tops

There are those which come from the "catozze" tunips whose bulb is like the one of the sugar beet and grow in winter. They can also come from the "quarantine" or "sessantine" tunips which take forty or sixty days to become ripe and have very small bulbs (after picking the tops the plant isn't productive anymore).

Turnip tops have a typical bitterish taste. The "friarielli" are obtained only with the tender parts and some stalks.

The tender parts

The parts which can be cooked

Cook them with sausage on a high heat for ten minutes, then put the lid on and finish cooking for two minutes.

Ready to be cooked

Putting the lid on

Cleaning

If the stalks aren't very tough they can be broken into four pieces and boiled and then used to prepare a sauce which is used to season the pasta together with the salted anchovies and some capers if you like.

The stalks

The central part can be used to make a broccoli salad with a very good extra virgin olive oil (for example the Ravece DOP one), salt and lemon.

The central parts

The leaves can be boiled and arranged in the shape of balls.

The ball shaped leaves

A typical recipe from the province of Avellino is turnip tops with smoked herrings.

A herring

You have to use the tender parts as they will be cooked for a short time.

A herring chopped in garlic and oil

Chop the herring in oil with some garlic cloves, add the turnip tops and put the lid on for ten minutes, keep cooking for two minutes and the dish willbe ready. You can also add pickled chili pepper which mixes with the bitterish taste of the tunip tops. This dish can be paired with an Aglianico 2008 wine produced by Filadoro which, in spite of the fact that it is still young, is soft and intense and so is able to stem the hardness and the aroma of this dish.

In the pan

The dish is almost ready

The dish is ready

Turnip tops with a smoked herring

This recipe is by Tenuta Montelaura

Traduzione in italiano su http://www.lucianopignataro.it/a/ricetta-cult-i-friarielli-o-i-vruoccoli-tutto-sulle-cime-di-rape/20188/