Cavolo nero goes by many names: Tuscan cabbage, black kale, Italian kale. Whatever the label, you’ll spot it for its dark-green slender leaves with a thin stalk, sold by the bunch. When cooked – and it’s best savoured this way – cavolo nero yields a slightly bitter, vegetal flavour; it’s a tough customer, too, which means it can withstand the roils and boils of stews, soups and braises.
You’ll often find cavolo nero in Italian or Italian-leaning dishes, cosying up with big, rich and earthy flavours like salami, sausage, green or brown lentils, chickpeas, and garlic. It makes good friends with white proteins such as chicken, rabbit and fish too. Below, all our favourite ways to cook with cavolo nero.
Braised beef cheeks with baby carrots and cavolo nero
Beef braciole with cavolo nero and parmesan salad
Casarecce with pork sausage, cavolo nero and chilli
Warm autumn salad of artichoke, pomegranate and radicchio
Roast chicken with anchovy butter and greens
Spelt spaghetti with zucchini and cavolo nero-almond sauce
Chicken braised with cavolo nero and wine
Mike McEnearney’s hash with a fried egg
Roasted mushrooms with asparagus and goat’s cheese
Guy Grossi’s Lucanian sausages with crisp cavolo nero
Braised wild rabbit with salami, cavolo nero and olives
Green lentils with salami and cavolo nero
Orecchiette with cavolo nero and porcini
Sausage, cavolo nero and chickpea minestrone
Wild barramundi, cavolo nero and spanner crab
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