A quick pasta dish with vegetables that you can whip up in less an 30 minutes, orecchiette con cime di rapa or Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe makes for a fine meatless pasta dish. It’s pretty typical of the kind of thing we like to eat in our house on a weeknight when there’s not much time to make dinner.
The pasta called orecchiette or “little ears” is typical of Puglia, the region of Italy that my grandpa Lorenzo came from. Little disks of pasta made from durum wheat and water are pressed with the thumb so they come out concave, giving them the appearance of little ears. Well, at least, if you apply some imagination.
This chewy pasta marries beautifully with the pungency of broccoli rabe. You boil the vegetable along with the pasta while you sauté garlic, red pepper flakes and anchovy gently in olive oil. When the pasta and veg are done (they both cook in about the same time) you toss them with the seasoned olive oil for a few minutes. The pasta absorbs the flavors while the vegetable melts into a kind of pungent green sauce.
It’s a simple but delicious dish that is practically the emblem of the region.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
- 400g (14 oz) orecchiette (see Notes)
- 1 bunch of broccoli rabe (about 400g/14 oz), roughly chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, slightly crushed and peeled
- 1-2 dried chili peppers, or a pinch of red pepper flakes
- 2-3 anchovy fillets (optional)
- Salt
- Olive oil
Directions
Boil the orecchiette and broccoli rabe together in well salted boiling water.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, lightly sauté the garlic, chili pepper and anchovy fillets in olive oil.
Don’t allow the garlic or the red pepper to brown too much or it will turn bitter. (If using the red pepper flakes, add them only a few moments before you’re done with the sauté, as they burn very quickly.) Turn off the heat.
When the orecchiette and broccoli rabe are done, transfer them and the broccoli rabe with a slotted spoon into the seasoned oil. (For a more ‘refined’ dish, you can remove the garlic and chili pepper but I never bother.)
Simmer everything together, mixing as you go until the pasta and broccoli rabe are well seasoned by the oil. The broccoli rabe should have more or less disintegrated by now into a kind of ‘sauce’. Taste for seasoning and add salt to taste, if need be.
Serve piping hot, drizzling a bit more olive oil on top of each portion if you like. This is not a dish that calls for any kind of grated cheese.
Notes on Orecchiette con cime di rapa
Once a rarity, these days you can find fresh orecchiette at better supermarkets and many Italian food shops. They are, unfortunately, quite expensive as real ones have to be made by hand. You can find imported dried orecchiette, also quite expensive, but quite good if thoroughly cooked.
You can also find what I could imitation orecchiette. They’re basically regular pasta secca cut into a concave shape to look something like orecchiette. But I don’t bother with them. Better to use another kind of short pasta that can hold the broccoli rabe, like rigatoni or conchiglie (shells). Or, for the ultimate experience, you can make your own. This post and the linked video provides some tips.
Dried orecchiette and broccoli rabe take about the same time to cook, generally about 10 minutes or perhaps a bit more, depending on the thickness and age of the pasta. Freshly made orecchiette take only about 5 minutes or so, so boil the broccoli rabe for 5 minutes before adding the pasta to the pot.
If you have some extra time, you can boil the broccoli rabe separately. You then drain and add it to the seasoned oil. Then you boil the pasta in the same pot as the broccoli rabe. The water will lend more flavor to the pasta that way, and you can better control how well cooked your vegetable is. Personally, I find the difference in taste and texture is minimal, not enough to justify the extra time it takes.
Variations
You can use the same method for cooking orecchiette with broccoli rabe using cauliflower. You can add a little chopped parsley for color if you like.
Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
Ingredients
- 400 g 14 oz orecchiette
- 1 bunch of broccoli rabe about 400g/14 oz, roughly chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic slightly crushed and peeled
- 1-2 dried chili peppers or a pinch of red pepper flakes
- 2-3 anchovy fillets
- Salt
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Boil the orecchiette and broccoli rabe together in well salted boiling water.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, lightly sauté the garlic, chili pepper and anchovy fillets in olive oil. Turn off the heat.
- When the orecchiette and broccoli rabe are done, transfer them and the broccoli rabe with a slotted spoon into the seasoned oil.
- Simmer everything together, mixing as you go, until the pasta and broccoli rabe are well seasoned by the oil. The broccoli rabe should partially disintegrate into a kind of ‘sauce’.
- Taste for seasoning and add salt to taste, if need be. Serve piping hot, drizzling a bit more olive oil on top of each portion if you like. This is not a dish that calls for any kind of grated cheese.
Discover more from Memorie di Angelina
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
And you might also like...
Carbonara di carciofi (Artichoke Carbonara)
Ribollita (Tuscan Minestrone)
Spaghetti all’assassina (“Killer” Spaghetti)
Pallotte cacio e uova (Cheese and Egg Balls)
Tagliata di manzo con rucola e parmigiano
Mousse di tonno (Tunafish Mousse)
Filetti di baccalà (Fried Salt Cod Filets)
Troccoli con cime di rapa e cozze
Pignoli Cookies
Petto di vitella alla fornara
We love this! I used spelt flour in the Bechamel sauce and bow ties for the pasta, real milk( lactose free) and did not save the pasta water as usual I poured it out. I instead used the water from the rabe sauté.
This dish is delish!
I will make again and look for the pasta recommend. Graci Christina’scucina!
Thanks for your comment, Abbe!
A clean and classic preparation Frank and by the way a family favorite – thanks Frank.
Thanks, Paula!
A classical of the Apulian cuisine, very tasty and healthy. Happy weekend. Paola
You, too, Paola!
Wonderful recipe and I really like the idea of doing the broccoli rabe with the orecchiette. Do we love orecchiette?? We just bought a case of it 🙂 That’s why you’ll see quite a few of our recipes using the orecchiette. Your photos are beautiful makes me want to dive in and start enjoying. Buona giornata!
Buona giornata anche a te, Marisa!
Tonight’s dinner. The broccoli rage just showed up in our grocery store! Love the simplicity.
Enjoy, Claudia!
I make this dish several times per week and have never used orrechiate or however you spell it. My family on both sides was from Puglia: Matera Basilicata and Torritto and they always make the Rabe’s with olive oil and garlic and spaghetti. We never had anything but this dish with spaghetti growing up and my family are NYC Bronx Italian Americans.
Those sorts of substitutions—of a hard to find ingredient like orecchiette for something easy like spaghetti—are very common among Italian-Americans. And by the way, I’m also a Bronx Italian-American—Angelina lived in the Arthur Avenue section.
Everything on this site is simple but looks amazing… really is true that less is more.
I’m loving the fresh flavours that are always shown in all the recipe’s here.
Thanks so much, B. And welcome to the site. It’s true, our aspiration is to feature simple, easy and delicious dishes. Enjoy!
Thanks for the shout-out, Frank! Orecchiette – fresh or dried – is probably my favorite pasta shape. They’re also terrific with a sauce of ceci and vegetables. The little ears cradle the ceci perfectly.
Frank, this is one of my favorites–my husband’s, too. We were in Puglia in summer ’12 and were so looking forward to eating orecchiette with broccoletti. But guess what ~ no one was serving it! Only orecchiette with tomato sauce. The reason? Broccoletti were not in season. I don’t usually put anchovies in mine, but I love that idea and will try it. Grazie, D
That’s what I like about Italy. They still believe in seasons. I was at the supermarket this morning in mid November and what did I see, prominently displayed as I walked in? Asparagus and strawberries. Ugh….
A perfect, timeless dish. We called them broccoletti in our household in Rome, unless you were talking to Stefano’s Nonna Pierina, in which case it was cime di rapa. Ours also usually have sausage in them.
I’m going to have to try sausage in this dish—it certainly seems to be hugely popular!
Well here is classic for certain, and Frank, yours looks great. I always enjoy your site. You are like a compendium of the real deal, la vera Italiana. There’s no nonsense here at Memorie di Angelina, no “frills”, no “my take on this or that.” You showcase the food has sustained the Italian people through the years, through good times and bad. I just love visiting.
Thanks so much, Adri. Indeed, I like to stick with the tried and true. Just my nature, I guess… as you say, if it’s been good enough for countless generations, it’s good enough for me.
I love orecchiette with cime di rapa or any green vegetable come to think of it. I also love orecchiette with ‘sugo crudo’: chopped raw tomatoes, olives, chili peppers and lots of ricotta salata and olive oil.
Sounds fabulous! I’ll have to try it when tomatoes are back in season (or perhaps before that, it sounds too good to wait… )
This is one of our favorite dishes!! Broccoli and pasta, especially orecchiette is simply the best!
Ain’t it the truth!?
There is no vegetable that has more different regional names! In Naples they call them friarielli. I have heard cima di rapa, rape, rapini, broccoletti — but NOT broccolini, which is something else. Whatever you call them … A rose by any other name … What I’m trying to say it: they are my favorite!!! One more thing: of course in Puglia the classic combo is broccoletti, salsicce, aglio. In Gaeta, they substitute the salsicce for shrimp!
(Oops, I meant they substitue sausage WITH shrimp.)
Sausage AND shrimp. Well, that’s unusual. How does it taste?
Sorry, they replace the salsicce with shrimp. So it’s broccoletti, shrimp, aglio.
I typically add sausage when I make this dish, but I love the flavors you’d get with the anchovy too.
Both are delicious. Since I’m an anchovy maven, I go that route. Healthier, too…
One more proof of the healtiness (and goodness) of South Italian cook!
So true!
I make this dish using fresh ground Italian hot sausage and leave out the anchovy, but put extra garlic and crushed pepperoncini with mezza rigatoni. I am going to try your version – we love this dish!
Thanks, Paulie! Let me know how you like this version.
un vero piatto unico, sano e gustosissimo ! Una splendida foto che invoglia , buona settimana Frank !
Tante grazie, Chiara! Anch’io sono rimasto contento della foto. Pian piano sto migliorando…
One of my favorite recipes Frank, we make this all the time in the winter. Recently I have had a few people who can’t eat fish and I have substituted the anchovy with a little guanciale. It’s also yummy but the version with anchovy is the real thing!
The pancetta does sound good. I’ll have to give it try!