Broccoli Rabe Calzone

I've been grooving on the calzone's lately.  They are so easy and so yummy.   Generally speaking I would make my own dough from my Grandma's tried and true, never fail recipe.  But since Marc's started carrying Corbo's pizza dough, and I can get a ball of dough for a buck, I can't resist it!  And when I pick up that buck ball of dough, my mind starts to wander and I think of all the goodies I can fill it with.  This time, as I continued my shopping I saw some gorgeous, extremely fresh broccoli rabe (or rapini if you prefer).  I knew that rabe was going to be the star of my calzone. 

 

Take the rabe and wash it, then chop it coursely, getting rid of the really thick stems.  Then blanch it in boiling water for a couple minutes.  Not too long, you just want to start the cooking process.  While you're doing that, in another pan brown about a half to a quarter of a pound of Italian sausage.  I've mentioned before that my preference is for Lou's which is a local Cleveland brand and delish.  But you can use whatever kind you want and in fact, when I'm feeling like I should be more health conscious, I use DiRusso's turkey sausage... also regional.  Anyway, you want to take it out of the casing and crumble and brown it.

On this particular occasion, I had leeks in the house so I decided to use them too.   Make sure you clean leeks well and then chop thinly and saute with the sausage, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.  When both the sausage and the leeks are done (leeks should be soft and maybe just starting to brown a little, sausage will no longer be pink and starting to brown), add the blanched rabe to the pan and mix it all together.

If there is as much moisture in your pan as I have here, keep cooking it until all of it gone or carefully dump out the liquid.  You don't want all that in your calzone or it will be soggy.

Now take your ball o' dough and flatten it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The dough may stick a  little but it's no biggie.  Once you have it flattened, put your rabe mixture over the dough.

Make sure you leave room all around the edges so that you will be able to close the dough and not have the filling leak out.  Then top with about a cup of shredded mozzarella or provolone.  I'm using provolone.

Carefully pull up one side of the dough and connect it to the other, then tuck in the ends.  With a sharp knife, cut a few vents in the top of the calzone to allow the steam to escape.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Check on it at 15 to make sure it's not browning too fast.  But it should be a nice golden brown color when you pull it out.  Depending on your oven, it could be less than 15 minutes, it could be more.

Just know you want it to look like this...

And then to look like this...

Dough done all the way through, cheese melty and delicious.   Mangia!

Don't Fear the Broccoli Rabe

Have you ever been at the grocery store and spotted something that looks kind of like broccoli, but the florets aren't tight and there are a lot of leaves on it?  Well pick it up and put it in your cart!   It's Broccoli Rabe (also known as Rapini) and this slightly bitter green is one of the best things ever.  Both in taste and for your health.  It should be perky, not wilty, with sturdy florets and clean firm green stems. 

Sauteed in some olive oil with lots of garlic, it's a beautiful side dish on it's own (or on top of a roast pork and provolone sandwich like DiNic's in Philadelphia... quite possibly the worlds most perfect sandwich).  But generally how I make it is with some pasta and Italian sausage. 

Get your big pot of water for your pasta on to boil and then take about half a pound of bulk Italian sausage (if you can't find bulk, just buy it in links and squeeze it out of the casing) and brown it in a big skillet with a little olive oil to get it moving along on medium high heat.

You can certainly use a full pound of sausage if you want.  Actually I usually do, but I'm trying to cut back on the fatty foods so I'm only using half a pound.  As it starts to brown, move it around and keep it crumbled.  You should have some big chunks and some small, but all separate and not stuck together. Reduce heat to medium and add about five (more or less, depending on your taste) chopped garlic cloves.  Mmmm garlic.   Don't give the garlic a chance to burn, that would be really bad, so as soon as you start to smell the aroma of cooking garlic, add half a cup of white wine.   I generally add wine to most of my pasta dishes, but if you don't like to cook with wine you can use chicken stock.

The wine will cook out and just leave behind beautiful flavor.  While all this is going on, your water is probably starting to boil so throw in some salt (I do it by hand but if I had to measure I'd say at least a Tablespoon if not more), and the pour in your pasta.  Traditionally, this dish uses Orecchiette pasta, or little ears, and it's a good one to use.  But alas, I didn't have any in the house so I opted for Farfalle.  Once the pasta is in the pot and you give it a good stir, take your cleaned and roughly chopped broccoli rabe and put it on top of the pasta.  You just want to blanch the rabe, which is to say, boil it for about 20 seconds or so.

After it's blanched, scoop it out and put it in the skillet with the cooked sausage.  Don't worry about draining it, the water that's left on it is just fine in the pan. 

By now the wine is all cooked down and the pan needs the moisture of the rabe.   Once all the rabe is in, add salt and pepper to taste, stir it around with the sausage and when the pasta is done, reserve about a half to one full cup of the cooking liquid and then drain the rest.  Add the pasta to the skillet and reduce heat to low.  This is why you want to use a big skillet.  Give the pasta, sausage and rabe some stirring or if you're adventurous, toss it together.  If it's too dry, add some of the pasta water to and stir again. 

Serve with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil on top and some grated Parmesan or Romano. Does it get any better?

Buon Cibo mia Amici.