Take Your Bitters

by Jenn Carbin

Certain foods are not talked about enough to be culinary flagships, but stand strong as ethnic signifiers and neighborhood markers. For example, take roast pork, good bread and "long hots": These things let you know you're in an Italian-American neighborhood.

The most unmistakable sign that you are in an Italian-American 'hood, though, is the availability of broccoli rabe, as a side dish, an antipasto and especially, on sandwiches.

Broccoli rabe, also known as rapini or rape (pronounced RAHP-ay), didn't appear in North America until the 1920s, brought by Italians. It's not broccoli, but is related to it.

Thanks to its bitterness, it's for the more spirited eater. Double that when you take into account the traditional preparation, boiled and finished in a saute pan with olive oil and lots -- often loads -- of garlic. But fans revel in its bite and the way it marries with sausage or provolone and livens up chicken breast, potatoes and pasta sauces. Purists like it on its own, often at room temperature.

Garlicky bitter greens may seem like the ultimate grown-up food, but some kids will eat it. Henry George of Chickie's Italian Deli ate it as a child, both hot at dinner and the way his mom liked it, cold on bread as a snack. His 11-year-old son eats it that way and has since he was 4.

Today, George makes it for his shop, and it's a distinct part of his veggie hoagie, which outsells the other hoagies there 2- or 3-to-1, depending on the day. He cooks the greens until they lose just some of their bitterness, but says "the secret is the salt and pepper" he seasons with during cooking. And only Andy Boy rabe will do. "When you cook it, it doesn't shrivel away," he says.

Danny Carbonaro, over at D&J Meats and Deli, which originated and doubles as a butcher shop, puts broccoli rabe on one of his popular breaded chicken cutlet sandwiches, and will happily accommodate vegetarians with a no-meat version.

Carbonaro has found he likes sauteing better than steaming in the initial cooking step, with "just a little oil" to avoid saturation, and turns down the heat as the greens start to cook down. He adds a little salt to the pan, but seasons mostly after cooking.

D&J's grilled veggie and new bracciole sandwiches beckon with Italian creativity, but it's the broccoli rabe that reminds you where you are.

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