Orecchiette Zambian Style

It's funny the things you find in supermarkets here. You cannot imagine how excited I was to find orecchiette. For those of you unfamiliar, this is a type of pasta native to the Puglia region of southern Italy and means 'little ears'. It's quite a dense and creamy pasta when cooked and is traditionally served with broccoli sprouts or 'cime di rapa'.

Cime di rapa isn't available here, but another, similar green vegetable 'rape' is. As you can see, it's a lot like spring greens or kale. It has an irony, mustardy taste and is a common dish here. You can use in salads as well, though I doubt many Zambians ever eat it raw.

For this quick pasta dish, simply cook the orecchiette in lots of well-salted water while you fry a little garlic in oil (preferably olive). Add to this a finely sliced tomato (I use a cheese grater) which you fry until it starts to soften, then add a good handful of slice rape ? it shrinks like spinach so add quite a bit, season with salt. Wilt in the pan, conserve some of the water from the pasta to add when draining and add to the rape, you can spritz with some lemon juice for a bit of a kick, but it isn't essential. Return the pasta to the pan and add the vegetables, add pecorino or parmesan if you have it, but it's good without too. Enjoy!