Sausage and friarielli

Sausage and friarielli is a highly appreciated traditional dish from Campania. It’s a rustic and tasty combination of sausage (typically a spicy and flavorful cured meat) and friarielli (elsewhere in Italy also called broccoli rabe or rapini, but in Campanian use it refers to a more tender variety of broccoli rabe).

Ingredients

• 4 fresh sausages
• 1 kg of friarielli
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Chili pepper (optional)
• Salt

Preparation

1. Clean the friarielli by removing the outer leaves, the hard stems, and any damaged or yellowed parts. Then wash them under cold running water.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the friarielli for about 5 minutes. After blanching, drain them and squeeze out excess water well.
3. In a large skillet, sauté the whole garlic cloves, with or without chili pepper according to taste, in extra virgin olive oil until they turn golden, then remove them.
4. Add the friarielli to the skillet and sauté for a few minutes, adjusting the salt to taste. Then remove them from the skillet and keep them warm aside.
5. In the same skillet, add the sausages pricked with the tines of a fork, cooking over medium heat until they are golden brown and evenly cooked, turning occasionally.
6. When the sausages are ready, serve them together with the warm friarielli.

For an all-Italian variant of a non-Campanian dish, if you have some ingredients from other regions, you can always try to include them to enrich the dish. For example, you could add a drizzle of balsamic cream for a touch of Modena, or a sprinkle of pecorino cheese if you want a more Lazio flavor.

Curiosity

The sausage and friarielli dish represents a perfect synthesis of simple and authentic flavors, a true comfort food for the inhabitants of Naples and its surroundings. It is often served in sandwiches or as a topping for pizza as well, demonstrating its versatility and ability to adapt to different gastronomic contexts.