A simple traditional Italian pasta dish, made with a few tasty ingredients.
INGREDIENTS:
500 grams orecchiette shaped pasta
3 large Italian sausages
1 fresh red chili pepper or chili flakes (optional)
2 sliced garlic cloves
1 bunch of broccoli rabe (rapini) chopped, stems peeled
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-reggiano cheese
extra virgin olive oil
METHOD:
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Remove sausage from casings and break up into pieces. Saute until golden brown.
Add hot pepper (if using) and sliced garlic. Saute for an additional couple of minutes. Do not burn garlic. Set sauce aside.
Meanwhile bring water to a boil. Add rapini and cook for 5 minutes or until your preferred tenderness. With slotted spoon, transfer rapini to a bowl.
Bring water to a second boil and salt generously. Add pasta and cook for 2 minutes less than the recommended cooking time.
Drain cooked pasta. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
Add pasta and rapini to skillet and toss with the sausage. Add reserved pasta water if necessary. Sprinkle lots of freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately.
TIPS:
1. I use a potato masher to quickly and easily break up the sausage meat.
2. Always under cook pasta by 2 minutes before adding to a hot sauce. Pasta will continue to cook as you assemble the recipe.
3.To avoid over-cooking the pasta, always cook the sauce first and have it ready for the pasta.
4. Peeling the rapini stems, cuts back on some of their bitterness.
5. Be careful not to burn garlic to avoid bitterness.
6. A variation of this dish would be to simply add a drained and rinsed can of white kidney beans, or romano beans to the skillet just before adding the pasta and rapini.
SERVING SIZE: approximately 4 to 6 servings
