Equipment
Ingredients
Produce
- 300 g broccoli rabe, tough stems removed, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 3 garlic, minced
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
Meat & Pantry
- 400 g spicy italian sausage, bulk, or casings removed
- 250 g canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 350 g orecchiette pasta, dry
- 30 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 50 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 50 g pecorino romano cheese, freshly grated
- kosher salt
- black pepper, freshly cracked
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 933 kcal
- Protein
- 37 g
- Carbohydrates
- 87 g
- Fat
- 49 g
- Fiber
- 9 g
- Sugar
- 6 g
- Sodium
- 1243 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 19 g
- Trans Fat
- 0 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 20 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 7 g
- Cholesterol
- 96 mg
- Potassium
- 680 mg
- Calcium
- 299 mg
- Iron
- 7.2 mg
- Magnesium
- 97 mg
- Phosphorus
- 505 mg
- Zinc
- 4.2 mg
- Vitamin A
- 185 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 22 mg
- Vitamin E
- 1.7 mg
- Vitamin K
- 8 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.3 mg
- Vitamin B12
- 1.0 mcg
- Thiamin
- 0.82 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.60 mg
- Niacin
- 12.2 mg
- Folate
- 239 mcg
- Water
- 121 g
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Bring a large heavy-bottomed pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil at 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Drop the chopped broccoli rabe into the water and blanch to temper its bitterness. Remove with a slotted spoon after 2 minutes and set aside. Keep the water boiling.
In the same pot of boiling water, cook the orecchiette according to package directions until al dente. Reserve at least 120ml of starchy pasta water in a small heatproof cup, then drain the pasta into a colander.
While the pasta boils, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the spicy Italian sausage, allowing it to sear for a minute before breaking it up into bite-sized crumbles with a wooden spoon. Wash hands thoroughly after handling raw meat. Cook until deep brown and fully cooked through to an internal temperature of 74 degrees Celsius or 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lower the skillet heat to medium. Stir the minced garlic and drained chickpeas into the sausage. Cook until the garlic is highly fragrant and the chickpeas are warmed through, stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from burning.
Add the blanched broccoli rabe, cooked orecchiette, lemon juice, and half of the reserved pasta water to the skillet. Toss everything together vigorously over medium heat, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Remove the skillet entirely from the heat. Scatter the cold cubed butter, lemon zest, and grated pecorino over the pasta. Toss and stir continuously to mount the sauce. The residual heat and starch will melt the butter and cheese into a creamy, glossy glaze. If the mixture seems dry, add the remaining pasta water a splash at a time. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Chef's Notes
- Blanching the broccoli rabe in the pasta cooking water serves two distinct purposes. First, it extracts some of the astringent bitterness from the greens. Second, it lightly infuses the cooking water with a vegetal flavor that the pasta will later absorb.
- Always use cold butter when finishing a pan sauce (a technique known as monter au beurre). Cold butter melts slowly, allowing the milk fats to suspend evenly within the liquid, creating a velvety emulsion rather than a greasy, split mess.
- Orecchiette translates to little ears in Italian. It is the absolute ideal shape for this dish because the cupped centers perfectly cradle the whole chickpeas, sausage crumbles, and the rich butter sauce.
- Allowing the sausage to sear completely undisturbed for the first couple of minutes builds a deep layer of caramelized fond on the bottom of the skillet. This fond dissolves into the pasta water later, creating the savory backbone of your sauce.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 days — Store in an airtight container.
Reheating: Gently warm in a skillet over medium-low heat with a splash of water or chicken broth to re-emulsify the sauce.
Troubleshooting
Sauce is watery and greasy instead of creamy
Cause: The butter melted too quickly from excessive heat, or there was not enough starch to bind the fat and liquid.
Fix: Add another splash of hot, starchy pasta water and toss vigorously until the emulsion re-forms.
Prevention: Ensure the pan is off the heat before adding cold butter, and vigorously agitate the pasta so the starches release.
Cheese clumped together in tight strings
Cause: The pan was too hot when the cheese was added, causing the proteins to tighten and expel their fat.
Fix: Cannot be fully fixed once the proteins seize, but vigorously stirring in a few tablespoons of boiling pasta water can slightly smooth it out.
Prevention: Remove the pan from all heat sources before incorporating grated cheese.
Cultural Context
The pairing of slightly bitter broccoli rabe with rich pork sausage is a cornerstone flavor profile of the Puglia region in Southern Italy. Traditional preparations almost exclusively use orecchiette, an artisan handmade pasta whose shape is designed to catch rustic, chunky ingredients. Incorporating chickpeas adds a pan-Mediterranean element that historically served to stretch meat further while providing a satisfying, earthy counterpoint to the vibrant lemon and sharp pecorino.
