*[[Reed's Recipes|<- back to recipes]]* *This is perhaps my favorite pasta dish of all time.* I really think it's about as close to a perfect dish as it gets, and while I've dialed in this recipe over time, I don't really think there is a *best* way to make this. I love many of the variations, and I still love eating it how I first learned to cook it, the Italian American way, with a generous amount of sausage, garlic, cheese, toothsome pieces of broccoli rabe, and a thin, emulsified sauce made from the dishes fats and the starchy pasta-water. In Italy this dish is made with *[cime di rapa](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cima_di_rapa)*, a leafy, green vegetable with broccoli-like florets, related to the turnip. Like broccoli rabe, it is pleasantly bitter and slightly nutty. They cook the greens down in water and olive oil until they almost melt into a chunky sauce. Typically, they also finish the dish with toasted bread crumbs. Nowadays I make a sort of hybrid version, with a sauce made from the soft and yielding broccoli rabe, a little bit of cheese, an anchovy, and chicken sausage. The only ingredients that are truly essential for this dish are the orecchiette, the bitter greens, and the olive oil. ![[cime.jpeg]] ![[Pasted image 20260126210216.png]] **Ingredients (for 3-4 servings)** - extra virgin olive oil (the best you can find!) - 1 pound (about 1 bunch) of broccoli rabe, ends trimmed - 255g of sausage (~3 links of italian pork or chicken sausage) removed from casing - 1-2 anchovy fillet - 1 clove of garlic, lightly smashed - 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes - 1/2 teaspoon of whole fennel seeds, lightly crushed - 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese Bring a medium-sized pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the broccoli rabe into 2 inch chunks, reserving the florets and tender stems. Add to the boiling water and blanch for 3-5 minutes, until mostly tender and they turn a vibrant green. Remove from water, while keeping boiling water in pot (for cooking the pasta). Set aside about 1/3 of the blanched greens, ideally the leafy greens and florets, and add the remaining 2/3 to a vessel for immersion blending. Add generous glug of olive oil, and as much water as necessary to immersion blend until you have a somewhat chunky mixture. *(You can blend further if you want a smoother sauce, though I think it's best left pretty chunky. It will continue to break down as it cooks.)* *~if using sausage~* Form the sausages into a large 1/4in patty (or multiple). In a large saute pan or dutch oven, cook the sausage patties over medium-ish heat. Once they start to get nice and golden brown, start to break up the patty with a wooden spoon, until you have small chunks. You don't want these chunks to be *that* small, the largest should be about the size of an almond. Once fully cooked, remove from the pan keeping the remaining oil. In the same pan, replenish the oil if necessary, and lower the heat to medium-low. Add a crushed clove of garlic, and sauté until it starts to become fragrant. Add the anchovy, breaking it up with your wooden spoon. Add the fennel seeds and toast in the oil for 30 seconds or so. Once the anchovy has basically melted into the olive oil, add the reserved broccoli rabe florets and greens, and a ladle-full of the boiling water. Let this mixture come to a simmer, and add back in the sausage. Remove the garlic clove if you'd like, and continue to gently simmer. Meanwhile, add the orecchiette to the pot of boiling water and cook until al dente. Using a spider, remove the orecchiette and add to the pan with the greens and sausage. Add a ladle-full of the now starchy pasta water to the pasta. Raise the heat to medium-high, and stir (sauce) the pasta until the sauce has emulsified and is nicely coating the orecchiette, and little pieces of sausage have nestled into the pasta's concavity. ![[IMG_3479.jpeg]] Remove from heat and rapidly stir in the parmesan cheese to incorporate. Stir in another glug of olive oil. Serve immediately, and top with more grated cheese at the table. *Behold the splendor of cime di rapa :)*