A couple of weeks ago I was feeling bored and uninspired in the veggie department. Â I was flipping through my Greens Glorious Greens cookbook and stopped on an item I wasn’t that familiar with. So I went out to the grocery store and came
home with a bunch of broccoli rabe. If you aren’t familiar with this green veggie, and you pick up a bunch, you first question is probably, “What part do I cook?” And the answer is all of it. I chop about a bottom inch off each stem where it is a little thicker and sometimes looks a little dry. Then I just take my knife and just chop the rest of the plant up into 1 inch pieces; stems, leaves and florets in all. What’s great about broccoli rabe is that you don’t have to cut it pretty as you will use everything.
Broccoli rabe falls into the category of greens that I would refer to as bitter. To tame their bitterness you need to blanch them first. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the broccoli rabe and let cook for about 1-2 minutes. Drain and then press out all the water from the broccoli rabe.
The recipe below was inspired by something I saw in an Eating Well magazine. I modified to make it more of a main dish meal.
Broccoli Rabe, Cannellini Bean, and Orzo Toss
3/4 cup orzo
1 bunch of broccoli rabe, cleaned and chopped
1 small yellow squash, and cut in half on the vertical axis, then slice each half into 1/4 inch half moons
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1.5 teaspoons herbes de provence
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Cook orzo according to package directions
Blanch your broccoli rabe following the instructions above.
Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add the yellow squash and saute until it just starts to turn brown. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the blanched broccoli rabe, stir to combine.
Remove from heat and stir in herbes de provence, pepper, cannellini beans, lemon juice and orzo. Top with the feta cheese.
