The Fruits of my Labor Part II

In early March, you may recall, my 99 year old Grandmother showed my mother and I how to make her incredible homemade Italian sausage. I still have several pounds in my freezer because I try not to eat it too often. I want to savor it and it's not exactly figure friendly. I can't say enough how delicious it is and since it's been several weeks since we've had any, I pulled some out today and roasted it in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes.

I had been to the farmer's market again this week and picked up one of my favorite things, broccoli rabe, otherwise known as rapini.




I made it tonight with some of our homemade sausage and pasta.

Once you clean, cut off the hard stems and chop the rapini, blanch it in a pot of boiling salted water, just to let some of the bitterness escape. It doesn't have to be in the water for long. Then in a big skillet, saute some chopped garlic and add the rapini.



Our grocery store was carrying this delicious brand of pasta from Italy called Castellana that I never bought because it was pretty pricey at about $5 for a little over a one pound bag. But the store discontinued it and marked it down half price. I tried it, LOVED it and then was sad that the store discontinued it. I would imagine they were having a hard time selling it at full price when you can get Barilla for 99¢. Then one week I'm shopping and there is a grocery cart full of the pasta being clearanced out at 50¢ a bag! I bought them all!!! And now, after today I only have one left. This particular one I made today is flavored with artichoke and poppy seed.




Back to the recipe. Once the sausage is done, slice and add to the sauting garlic and rapini. Add some pasta water if the pan is starting to dry out.




Once the pasta is done, add it to the pan and toss. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil over the top and some freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Or better yet, some crumbled feta.