# Broccoli Rabe Ideas Wanted



## lance folicle (Nov 1, 2008)

Our CSA delivered some broccoli rabe yesterday. Any ideas on some good ways to prepare it? Thanks!


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

I like to place in a pot with some water, cover, and let them steam. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice and serve.

I also like to toss it into pasta. I usually use it when I'm making a mushroom, sausage, onion pasta with chicken broth and parm cheese.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Broccoli rape is THE standard vegetable side here. Every family i know makes it often. At the nmarket people buy it in huge bags. You have to peel the stems (pulling back with the knife) and remove yellow leaves, etc (here i get it cleaned at the market!) and wash in several waters, because it tends to collect dirt. 
Boil a big pot of salted water, dump in, and boil till just tender. Strain. 
Then in a frying pan, sautee a couple of sliced or crushed garlic cloves, adding some red pepper if you like it, and dump in the strained vegetable, let it sautee to take the flavor f oil and garlic and serve.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

Is this the stuff we call Kohl Rahbi?


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## lance folicle (Nov 1, 2008)

No - kolrhabi, as it's spelled here, is a root vegetable.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

It wasn't a spelling mistake, merely a typo!


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

orchetta pasta, 
broccoli rabe (blanched until al dente)
garlic slices
anchovies minced, or paste
hot red pepper flakes
romano cheese
chicken stock

Absolutely one of my favorite comfort foods.....I'm so jealous that you are getting a CSA bag in Jan with rapini. Very few of our farmers grow it and I so love this dish.

Pretty simple. blanch the rabe after you remove it from the water, boil the orechetta or ear shape pasta guess you could use a penne but orechetta makes sense. Saute in olive oil (I use colavita evo) garlic slices, you can throw in onion slices too.....the rapini then the anchovies, red pepper flakes and some chicken stock enough to make a sauce (not a soup), put in romano close to the finish. Strong flavors but they just work well together.


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## lance folicle (Nov 1, 2008)

I made the rabe a couple of days ago, and four of us had it for dinner. We all enjoyed it even though, since it was my first try at cooking the vegetable, it could have been even better. I'll definitely make it again. Thanks for all the suggestions.


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## koukouvagia (Apr 3, 2008)

But how did you prepare it Lance?


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## lance folicle (Nov 1, 2008)

Gave it a quick blanch, trimmed off the hard parts of the stalk, sautéed and caramelized some leeks in EVOO, added some garlic, put the rabe into the pan and let it cook down a bit, then added some red pepper flakes and some crispy pancetta pieces - the pancetta was trimmed of excess fat so the results were nice, lean, and meaty chips. Some of the pancetta fat remained in the pan, so the rabe was cooked with that and the olive oil. Quite tasty .... may try some spicy sausage next time.

I didn't realize that the rabe (AKA rappini) is a member of the turnip family. As it turned out, we had some combined mashed turnips and potatoes with the rabe.


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## rpmcmurphy (Jan 8, 2008)

I second the orechiette with some hot sausage and rabe...throw some hot pepper, garlic in there a little chicken stock or I just use same water to first cook the rabe, then the pasta, then throw a bit in the pan with the sausage and garlic and such....a little evoo to finish it off before plating.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

another way it's often served is with sausage or with pork chops. You cook one or the other in a frying pan, take them out and add a little oil, garlic and optional hot pepper, and sautee the blanched rapini, scraping up the browned stuff stuck to the pan and then add the meat back to the dish.


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