Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe, Puglian Style

La storia di questo piatto

Born from the red earth of Puglia, where olive trees whisper ancient secrets and the Adriatic wind carries the scent of wild fields, this dish is the soul of an entire people — farmers and fishermen who turned poverty into poetry, transforming bitter greens and rough flour into something eternal.

Ingredienti

• 80 g Dried orecchiette
• 150 g Fresh broccoli rabe
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 small piece Red chili pepper
• 20 ml Extra virgin olive oil
• 5 g Sea salt
• 1000 ml Water for cooking

Preparazione

1. Fill a large pot with water, add a generous pinch of salt, and turn the heat to maximum. In the meantime, clean the broccoli rabe: with your hands, bend and snap the stems from the bottom upward and discard the tough part (the part that doesn't bend easily). Keep the tender stems and all the leaves. Rinse everything under cold running water, then divide each bunch into 2-3 pieces by hand. The water is ready when you see large bubbles rising from the bottom of the pot and the entire surface is boiling vigorously.
2. When the water is boiling hard (you'll see large bubbles rising from the bottom), plunge the broccoli rabe into it. Stir immediately and occasionally with a wooden spoon to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. After 5-6 minutes, take the tip of a stem and pierce it with a fork: if the fork enters easily and the stem bends without resistance, it's ready. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and place them on a plate. Important: don't throw away the cooking water—you'll need it for the pasta.
3. In the same water, pour in the orecchiette pasta. Stir immediately with a spoon for 30 seconds to separate them well. Follow the time on the box (usually 12-13 minutes). Halfway through cooking, stir again. At 1-2 minutes before the indicated time, fish out a piece of pasta and bite into it: it should be soft but still slightly firm when you bite it, as if it has a little resistance between your teeth (neither soft nor gummy).
4. While the pasta is cooking, pour the olive oil into a wide skillet and turn the heat to medium-low (the heat must not be high, otherwise the garlic burns and becomes bitter). Slice the garlic very thinly with a knife. Break the chile pepper with your hands and remove the seeds if you don't like spice. Put the garlic and chile pepper in cold or lukewarm oil and turn on the heat. Stir for 2-3 minutes until the aroma rises strongly toward you and the garlic becomes transparent at the edges (just barely yellow-golden). Stop cooking before it darkens: the oil must remain fragrant and light, not burnt.
5. Add the already-cooked broccoli rabe to the skillet with the oil and garlic. Stir gently using a wooden spoon, lifting the vegetables from the bottom of the skillet to let them absorb the flavor of the oil and garlic well without breaking them. Continue for 1-2 minutes until everything is well flavored and the vegetables are hot.
6. When the pasta is al dente (slightly firm against the tooth), drain the orecchiette in a colander, but first collect about one cup (250 ml) of the cooking water in a cup: this water is rich in starch and will make the pasta creamy and silky when combined with the vegetables. Pour the hot pasta into the skillet with the broccoli rabe.
7. Toss gently with the wooden spoon, lifting the pasta from the bottom of the skillet to coat every piece well with the broccoli rabe. If it looks too dry, pour the reserved cooking water one spoon at a time and continue stirring gently. When the pasta glistens lightly and slides smoothly in the skillet, taste a piece: if it needs salt, add a little and stir. Pour immediately into bowls and bring to the table hot.