One of the most dreaded tasks was helping to clean rapini. As a kid, I remember coming home from school to find paper sacks filled with them. This meant my mother had hit the jackpot in some farmer’s field that day and that my assistance was now required. Lovingly known as “highway weeds”, these little gems could tie you up for hours. It takes patience and time to go through each one and cut away the tender leaves and buds from the larger, fibrous stalks. If the stalks are small, they can easily be eaten whole. They then need to be rinsed (many times to remove any loose dirt), blanched in batches, cooled, and portioned into individual freezer bags.

The somewhat bitter taste of rapini can be a bit of a turn off. But they are the best accompaniment to fried chicken cutlets…especially in a sandwich. They actually accompany any meat quite well. They are a great source of vitamins, especially Vitamins A and K. They are also absolutely fabulous with sausage and pasta…one of my favorite dishes!

So to begin, clean and rinse a nice bunch of rapini. Thankfully, you can now find them in most grocery stores! Boil water in a medium pot and blanch the rapini for about 10 minutes. They don’t really need to cook through, they just need to get soft and tender. Using a strainer, remove the rapini and allow to drain. Keep the water that you used to blanch the rapini because you will use it to cook your pasta. Then in a large skillet, heat 3Tbsp olive oil and a large clove of garlic on medium heat. When the garlic becomes fragrant, remove it from the oil. Add 1Lb crumbled pork sausage and break it up well. When the sausage is just about cooked through, deglaze the skillet with 3/4c white wine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and allow the wine to cook down, about 15 minutes. Remove as much of the water from the rapini as possible and add them to the skillet with the sausage. Stir well. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes and remove from heat. Cook the pasta according to package instructions and add it directly to the skillet when it is al dente. Reserve some cooking water to add to the pasta if needed. Add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and give a good toss. Serve with plenty Parmigiano. To note…this dish is typically prepared using Orecchiette pasta…but good luck trying to find that at the grocery store these days…so Rigatoni it is!

Whenever I eat this pasta, I remember standing next to my mom, knife in hand, going through the bag of “weeds” that never seemed to end. Who would have thought that the chore I never looked forward to would be the one I would remember most fondly?

Buon appetito!