Travel to Italy without leaving the house. This simple colorful dish comes from Puglia in southern Italy. The “Orecchiette” pasta translates to“little ears,” and is the perfect shape to capture the sauce. Traditionally this is peasant dish is made with just the pasta, rapini and pecorino cheese, but it is Downton after all so we are going to add a few extra touches.
Orecchiette with Cime di Rape (Rapini)
This simple colorful dish comes from Puglia in southern Italy. The "Orecchiette” pasta translates to“little ears,” which is the perfect shape to capture the sauce. Perfect comfort food.
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 lb orecchiette pasta
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup pancetta, chopped bacon substitute
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 1 lb rapini ends trimmed and coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup parmesan grated
- 1/4 cup walnuts toasted and chopped
- 1/4 cup parsley
Instructions
- Prepare the rapini by cutting off the long stems and remove any discolored leaves.* It has a bitter taste so while you can simply saute and serve, you may wish to take another step and steam for 10 minutes.
- Fill a large pot of water and set to boil. Add a good portion of kosher salt (it should taste like the sea). Add orecchiette and boil 12 minutes or until al dente. Drain, reserving about 1 cup pasta cooking water.
- In a large frying pan on medium heat add 1 tbsp. of oil, then the pancetta and fry for 5 minutes or until crispy. Remove to a plate.
- Add remaining oil to the pan on medium low heat. Add the garlic and chili flakes and sauté for 2 minutes or until garlic is lightly golden.
- Add the rapini, turn heat to high and sauté for 4 to 6 minutes.
- Add pasta to pan, and toss to combine. Sprinkle with Parmesan and drizzle pasta cooking water to loosen.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add reserved pancetta as well as the walnuts and parsley and toss until just incorporated.