This is another sauce in the olive oil and garlic family. Broccoli rabe (aka rapini) is sort of a wild cousin to broccoli, or a cross between broccoli and cauliflower. It used to be hard to find, but now you can get it in any supermarket. I used to grow all three in my garden, and found that the rapini did much better than the broccoli, which did much better than the cauliflower, in the SoCal winter climate. This dish is traditionally topped with toasted breadcrumbs instead of cheese. Why? Well, I’ve heard two explanations. The first is that the dish has some anchovy in it, and Italians don’t mix fish and dairy. The other is that it is a true peasant dish—rapini is essentially a weed—and the poorest peasants couldn’t afford to put cheese on top of everything. I think the real reason is that the taste of toasted breadcrumbs really compliments the slightly bitter rabe and absorbs the acidic sauce—whereas grated cheese would not hold up against such strong flavors.
Though orrechiette (little ears) is the traditional pasta, this sauce also good on a tubular pasta such penne.
What you need
Broccoli rabe
olive oil
garlic
anchovy
crushed red pepper
breadcrumbs, lightly toasted
How you make it
- Set a pot of salted water to boil. Chop off the bottoms of the rapini stalks if they seem too coarse and fibrous, but leave the rest intact. You don’t need to peel away any of the leaves—they stay in the dish. Using tongs, plunge the rapini into the boiling water for a few seconds—just long enough for the color to turn an emerald green. Remove from the water and chop it up—leaves, stems, florets, and all—on your cutting board.
- Coat the bottom of a pan with olive oil and add in one or two chopped cloves of garlic along with some chopped anchovy—maybe one filet. You don’t want to use as many as you would for cauliflower. Let it simmer for a minute or two.
- Add in the chopped broccoli rabe and sauté very briefly—you don’t want to overcook it, because broccoli can acquire a sulfur-y smell if it cooks too long. Add some crushed pepper to taste (this dish is good with a little heat).
- Meanwhile, cook the orrechiette in the same pot of salted water that you used to blanch the rapini. Be careful not to overcook it. When it’s still a bit firm, transfer it to the saucepan, adding a bit of the cooking water. Stir and simmer for another minute or so, then top with the toasted breadcrumbs.
Buon appetito!
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