On Monday, I posted about the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Contest, and I promised to share a recipe beginning or ending with "O", in honor of the event!
You may also remember a few weeks ago that I wrote about my birthday dinner with my ladies club. One of the dishes my friend enjoyed was a dish with orecchiette (meaning little ear in Italian), fennel sausage, sun-dried tomatoes and broccoli rabe.
I decided to experiment and try my hand at replicating that dish. In honor of Gina DiPalma, I have decided to call it:
Orecchiette Gina
(serves 2)
1/2 pound dried orecchiette pasta
good olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
6-8 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 bunch of broccoli rabe- use top third of each stalk
1/2 pound fennel sausage, removed from casing, pulled apart into large chunks
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Place chopped sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl of hot water, for about 5 minutes, to plump them. Drain, set aside. Place broccoli rabe in a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes to remove bitterness, drain and set aside. Put another pot of salted water on the boil. Add the orecchiette and boil until al dente, maybe 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, place chunks of sausage in pan, season with salt and pepper and brown over med-high heat. Remove when nicely browned. Turn heat down and add garlic to pan. Saute a few minutes. Add sun-dried tomatoes saute a few minutes more. Add broccoli rabe. Check for seasoning.
When pasta is cooked, strain one scoop at a time right into the saute pan. Add sausage back into pan. Stir to combine flavors. Add some pasta water if the dish looks too dry, and serve.
Buon Appetito!!
And don't forget to donate to this very important cause!