You can get this spicy and satisfying Italian-inspired dinner on the table in less than half and hour. I like broccolini/broccolette but any hearty green will work including regular broccoli, baby broccoli, broccoli rabe, kale, chard, or chicories. Orecchiette is a little cup-like pasta shape that has a doughy bite and scoops up bite-sized ingredients just right, but any moderately small shaped pasta will do.
If you think dried pasta is ho-hum, try one by Rustichella d’Abruzzo. (Find a great selection in Bozeman at Joe’s Parkway.)
from the RiPE archives, February 2015; inspired by L’Apicio’s Broccoli Rabe with Sausage, Food and Wine magazine, April 2013
Italian Sausage and Broccolini with Orecchiette
Inspired by L’Apicio’s Broccoli Rabe with Sausage, Food and Wine, April 2013
Ingredients
- 1 bunch broccolini/brocolette, stem ends trimmed
- 8 ounces Italian sausage, spicy
- 2–3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced and mashed with a little salt
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- orecchiette pasta, cooked al dente
- ½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano, grated
Instructions
-
Bring a large pot of water to boil and add salt ("salty like the sea," so about 2 tablespoons for 6 quarts of water). Blanch broccolini (or other greens you're using) until nearly tender, 2–3 minutes. Remove broccolini to bowl of ice water to stop cooking and set color. Remove broccolini from ice bath and squeeze dry in a clean kitchen towel, then chop into 2-inch pieces.
-
In large frying pan, cook the Italian sausage, squeezing it out of the casing if you have links. Cook over medium heat, breaking up the sausage into small pieces, until cooked through. Drain off fat from sausage.
-
Add a couple tablespons olive oil to sausage in pan, add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and cook for a minute. Add the chopped broccolette and cook until tender, 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and toss. Taste and add additional salt if you wish. Serve with orecchiette cooked al dente and top with grated cheese.
