Puglia: Orecchiette pasta with turnip tops

400 g turnip tops
200 gr Orecchiette
2 cloves of garlic
2 anchovy fillets in oil
Olive oil 
Salt and pepper 
Chilli pepper
(doses for 2 persons)

Apulia: Orecchiette pasta with turnip tops. Clean the turnip tops and wash them in cold water, keeping only the florets and green leaves. In a wide-bottomed pan, pour a little olive oil and add the finely chopped garlic cloves. Add the chilli and fry over a very low flame for a few minutes. When the flame is off, add and melt the anchovy fillets in the fry. Cook the orecchiette in a pot of salted water and, when there are about 3 minutes left before the end of cooking, add the turnip tops. If you use dried orecchiette, the cooking time is about 12 minutes, fresh orecchiette are quicker to cook. Drain the orecchiette pasta with turnip tops and transfer to the pan with the sauté over high heat and stir gently so as not to break the leaves of the turnip tops. As soon as the water on the bottom has dried, serve the orecchiette pasta with turnip tops hot… and without cheese, as Apulian tradition dictates! Already present in the Middle Ages around the 12th century, orecchiette were born out of the need to have a durum wheat pasta that could be dried. This was to be able to preserve this simple homemade pasta with its circular shape and hollowed out in the middle with thumb pressure for a longer time. To best enhance the taste of orecchiette con cime di rapa you need a delicate, fruity wine with a good degree of acidity such as Chardonnay altoatesino.