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Cook the Book: Orchiette with Broccoli Rabe

Posted by Grace Kang, March 11, 2009 at 1:30 PM

Cooking pasta Bittman-style means upending the traditional ratio of pasta to sauce and creating a dish with half a pound of pasta for every two to four cups of sauce. You may be skeptical, but it's certainly worth a try; logic says that as long as your sauce is good, the dish should be good. It's a painless way to eat more vegetables and fewer refined carbohydrates.

Italian sausage and broccoli rabe are a classic combination with pasta, but some people don't like the vegetable's bitterness. Feel free to substitute cauliflower or broccoli in place of the broccoli rabe—or chickpeas for the sausage, if you don't eat meat.

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Orchiette with Broccoli Rabe, My Style

- serves 4 -
Adapted from Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman.

Ingredients

Salt
About 1 pound broccoli rabe, trimmed and cut into pieces
1/4 cup olive oil, or more as needed
1 tablespoon chopped garlic, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 pound sweet or spicy Italian sausage (if using link sausage, squeeze it from the casing or cut it up a bit)
1/2 cup white wine or water
1/2 pound dried orchiette, penne, ziti, or other cut pasta, preferably whole wheat
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Procedure

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Boil the broccoli rabe until it's crisp-tender, 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces. Scoop the broccoli rabe out of the water with a slotted spoon or small strainer and set it aside.

2. Meanwhile, put the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, crumble the sausage into the pan, and cook, stirring occasionally to break the meat into relatively small bits and brown it, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and fennel seeds if you're using them, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue cooking and stirring for another minute or so. Add broccoli rabe and the liquid and cook, mashing and stirring until the broccoli rabe is quite soft, 2 or 3 minutes more. Turn the heat to low to keep the sauce warm.

3. Cook the pasta in the boiling water for about 5 minutes before checking the first time. When the pasta is just tender, but not quite done, drain it, reserving about a cup of the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce, along with some of the pasta water to keep the pasta from drying out. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, with the Parmesan, if you desire.

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Tags: broccoli rabe, Cook the Book, Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, Mark Bittman, pasta