Last year, just when we had finished our turnip tops, I found a delightful recipe for orecchiette with turnip tops and mussels in Antonio Carluccico’s book Pasta. Any recipe that includes mussels certainly wins favour even if we did have to wait nearly a year to taste. This dish also works well using broccoli. Don’t be tempted to add more cherry tomatoes. Basta cosi! Only a hint of tomato is needed.

The Italian for turnip tops is cime di rapa which more than explains why our local greengrocer sells them as ‘Jimmy the Rapper’.

350g dried orecchiette
350g turnip tops
75ml extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
4 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 tbsp white wine
1kg mussels, cleaned
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta in a large pan with plenty of boiling, salted water for nine minutes or until almost al dente. Add the turnip tops to the pan and continue cooking for five minutes. Drain the pasta and greens.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, heat most of the oil and cook the garlic and chilli for a minute. Add the tomatoes, wine, and the mussels and continue cooking, with the lid on, for about eight minutes or until the mussels are opened.

Take the pan off the heat and remove the shells from about half the mussels. Put the shelled mussels back into the pan and add the remaining olive oil. Cook for a minute and then add the pasta and turnip tops. Check for seasoning – certainly pepper may be needed but the juice from the mussels may give enough salt for the sauce.

Serve in deep bowls and eat with a spoon.

It is a lovely dish for lunch, served with crusty bread.