Sautéed broccoli rabe, Sicilian Style

I adore this dish. It’s the perfect counterpoint to rich Italian dishes, such as eggplant parmesan, osso bucco, and others.

Feel free to use other greens, such as mustard greens, dandelion greens, kale, chard, collards . . . or any combination of two or more varieties.

But broccoli rabe, or Rapini as it’s sometimes called, is best on its own.

The first step is to quickly blanch the broccoli rabe. It cuts the bitterness to the perfect level. Then we sautée it with good olive oil and plenty of sliced garlic. A little salt and pepper and you could call it finished, but we can easily take yummy to fabulous with a few extra ingredients.

The saltiness of capers melds with the sweetness of raisins and the richness of pignoli nuts. A splash of aged balsamic vinegar is optional, but gives it a nice finish.

Ingredients:

1 or more heads broccoli rabe

olive oil as needed

several cloves garlic, thinly sliced (as much as you want)

a small handful of raisins

a small handful of pignolis, lightly toasted in a dry skillet

a smaller handful of capers

Diamond Crystal kosher salt to taste

red pepper flakes, optional, as much as you like

a splash of balsamic vinegar, optional

Method:

• Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with boiling water, to soften them.

• Bring a large pot of well salted water to the boil. While you’re waiting, trim the hard, woody bottoms off the stems of the broccoli rabe, cutting them on the bias.

• Prepare a large bowl of cold water with ice cubes and have it at the ready.

• When the water boils, drop in the broccoli rabe. Boil it for two to three minutes, then drain away the water and plunge the rabe into the ice water to halt the cooking.

• Then drain the water and let them dry for a few minutes.

• Heat a generous splash of good olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic slices and the broccoli rabe, and toss with tongs for a few minutes, until the garlic begins to pick up color.

• Drain the raisins and add them, with the capers and the pignolis, to the skillet. Add some red pepper flakes if you’d like to add some heat. Toss it all together for another minute or two. Then remove the pan from the heat, add a little splash of balsamic vinegar, mix it all together and transfer the broccoli rabe to a serving platter.

Did you make it? Was it fabulous?