Pasta with sautéed zucchini and salamella sausage
- Easy
- 30 min
The boundless variety of Italian products also includes fruits and vegetables and how they are identified up and down the country. Broccoli rabes are an example, which in some areas are known as broccoletti; in Naples, the smaller and tender tips of a local variety are called friarielli, or spigatelli, also referred to as alla molisana. Inspiration for today's dish comes straight from this small yet mighty Italian region: cavatelli pasta with sausages and broccoli rabe. A delicious and quick first course featuring the pairing of these greens with sausage, for a delicious result, made even more special by the toasted soft bread. A first course that invites us to savor it through its aroma and presentation, winning us over immediately after just one bite. Lovers of the timeless pairing orecchiette pasta with turnip greens, or broccoli and sausage, make room for cavatelli pasta with sausage and broccoli rabe: they're bound to be a hit on your menu!
To make cavatelli pasta with sausage and broccoli rabe, start by preparing the broccoli rabes: clean them by removing the leaves from the stalk using a knife 1 and rinse under running water 2. Coarsely chop the soft inside of some fresh bread 3,
place in a mixer 4 and finely blend 5. Remove the casing from the sausage and crumble the meat, then roll it into small balls by hand 6
and brown on a medium to high flame in a hot pan for around 10 minutes (7-8). Now place it in a dish 9, cover with wrap so that it stays warm, and continue preparing the recipe. Leave the saucepan with the baking sauce to one side, ready for use later on.
Place a saucepan filled with water on the stove and add salt when it comes to the boil, for cooking the pasta. Finely chop the fresh peperoncino 10 and place it in a saucepan with oil 11, add the finely chopped bread 12
and saute in a pan, stirring occasionally, until golden 13. Save some soft bread for garnishing the dish. In the meantime, brown 2 peeled whole garlic cloves in the same pan used for the sausage, with oil 14, then add the broccoli rabes 15; press them down so that they all fit in the pan; as they start to cook they will reduce in volume.
Cook the broccoli rabes for around 10 minutes, once cooked remove the garlic cloves 16 and add the small sausage pieces kept to one side 17, then add salt to taste. In the meantime, boil the fresh cavatelli pasta for 5 minutes 18;
drain, add to the condiment 19 and stir for a few minutes until creamy. Garnish each plate with some toasted bread pieces 20 and serve your cavatelli pasta with sausage and broccoli rabes right away 21!