Spaghetti With Broccoli Rabe, Toasted Garlic and Bread Crumbs
- Total Time
- 20 to 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Salt
- ½cup extra virgin olive oil, more as needed
- 3 or 4cloves of garlic, peeled and slivered
- 1cup bread crumbs, preferably homemade
- ¼teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
- About 1 pound broccoli rabe, trimmed and washed
- 1pound spaghetti, linguine or other long pasta
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. When oil is warm, cook garlic just until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add bread crumbs and red pepper flakes and cook until bread crumbs are golden, 5 minutes or so. Remove and set aside.
- Step 2
Cook broccoli rabe in boiling water until it is soft, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain well and chop. Cook pasta in same pot.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, add remaining oil to skillet over medium-low heat. Add broccoli rabe and toss well; sprinkle with salt and pepper. When it is warm add garlic and bread crumbs and mix well.
- Step 4
When pasta is done, drain it, reserving a little cooking water. Toss pasta in skillet with broccoli rabe mixture, moistening with a little reserved water if necessary. Adjust seasonings and serve with freshly grated Parmesan.
Private Notes
Comments
In Puglia (Apulia) this is often made with thick, round orecchiette pasta which are cooked together with the broccoli rabe like a risotto, that is, continuously adding just enough boiling water to keep the pasta covered. The heat can be turned off for the final few minutes with the pot covered to absorb the last of the water. The result is a creamier broccoli sauce. Regular broccoli works, but is different. A bit of anchovy is often added at the start for more flavor if there are no vegetarians.
Made this a number of times w/these mods: blanch broccoli rabe for 2 minutes only, chop; before adding garlic to oil, sauté 2 anchovies and when dissolved, add garlic and then panko and red pepper flakes (thanks Melissa Clark, great idea); toss broccoli rabe in remaining hot oil to heat, add cooked spaghetti, salt liberally, toss with cheese, add enough pasta water to thin; don’t add toasted crumbs to pan, but sprinkle them on top of plates of spaghetti/br/cheese mix to keep the crumbs crispy.
This was pretty good. Recipe doesn't state fresh or packaged bread crumbs. I used a fresh bag of panko crumbs but I think if I make it again I'll take fresh bread and grind it up into crumbs on my own.
I cut the broccoli rabe into bite-size (about 1-inch) pieces but it really should be cut smaller than that for best results.
I doubled the recipe with no issues.
Terrific midwestern fare. Save some calories. I recall the dressing without sour cream. It is delicious.
Do NOT use prepared breadcrumbs. Absolutely AWFUL. Recipe needs to say use your own homemade. What a waste of time/ money/ food.
Delicious but will make adaptations made by others: cut pasta in half but keep other ingredients at full recipe quantities, possibly reduce oil, toss with cheese and sprinkle toasted crumbs and garlic on top. And definitely reduce cook time for broccoli rabe; it was mushy at 5 min!