Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Raab
From Puglia in the south of Italy, typical of the cooking from this region, one of the tastiest pasta
dishes and a favourite of our household. You can preserve any excess cima di rapa by making
the famous sauce and putting it in hermetically sealed jars. These will keep for up to a year in
your larder. Serves 4
Ingredients:
400 g cima di rapa/broccoli raab, roughly chopped
4–5 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
3 anchovies, roughly chopped
1 glass white wine
500 g orecchiette pasta
butter
freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
chilli oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cook the cima di rapa in slightly salted water. Drain through a sieve, reserving the water for
cooking the pasta later.
Pour the oil into a pan and gently sauté the sliced onion and garlic with the anchovies. Turn
up the heat so that the onions start to sizzle and then pour in the white wine. Add the cima di
rapa and mix well, adding a drizzle more oil if the mixture looks dry. Lower the heat to allow the
flavours to mix and keep warm on a low flame until ready to serve over the pasta.
Meanwhile, bring the reserved water to the boil, cook the pasta according to the
instructions on the packet, drain, stir in a knob of butter and then add the sauce. Grate some
Pecorino on top and season with chilli oil and freshly ground black pepper.
*taken from the book ‘From Seed to plate’ by Paolo Arrigo, published by Simon and Schuster