Rapini pasta is a favorite pasta dish in Italy, so why not give it a try? It requires only 4 ingredients (excluding the salt), and is ready in the time it takes to cook your pasta!

Recently, Stanley Tucci shared a recipe for sausage and broccolini pasta with a kit you can buy to make his meal.

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At $120 (plus shipping!) for the kit, I can assure you that there’s absolutely no reason to spend this kind of money for a pasta dish. Even if you bought an expensive extra virgin olive oil, Pecorino Romano DOP, top quality pasta, fennel, and sausage, you’d still never be close to this pricepoint. As with most Mediterranean diet meals, you don’t need to spend much for a delicious outcome.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy series! I’m so happy that he’s highlighting and educating Americans and others outside Italy about authentic Italian cuisine. However, this is just a very expensive kit which you can re-create at a much, much lower cost on your own.

Stanley Tucci’s recipe also uses broccolini, however, in Italy, another green vegetable is used which is called rapini, or broccoli rabe in the US. It’s a little more bitter (in a good way), and I think it’s more flavorful than broccolini. Apparently, rapini is more closely related to turnips than broccolini!

Many years ago, I introduced my readers to rapini, and shared a recipe on how to make sautéed rapini which is essentially the main part of this rapini pasta recipe. A few minutes in a pan, then tossed with pasta, and you’re ready to eat. Seriously, it’s that easy! Even if you want to add sausage (as Stanley does) it still takes the same amount of time.

How to Buy Rapini or Broccoli Rabe

rapini bunch — When buying rapini, look for a fresh, green bunch like this.

When choosing a bunch of rapini, look for fresh, dark green leaves (don’t buy if it’s wilted). You also can tell a good bunch when the florets are green and not yet flowered, or yellow.

Notes on this recipe: the very popular sausage and rapini pasta is usually made with orecchiette pasta. I chose to make this recipe with farfalloni (large butterflies) just because they looked so lovely, but you can really use almost any pasta you choose.

Here’s another rapini pasta recipe with besciamella.

If you and your dining companions don’t agree between no sausage or with sausage, just know that you can make this recipe as is, and still add sausage afterwards to please vegetarians and meat lovers alike.

Also, if you make the rapini pasta with just the rapini, you can keep it vegan by skipping the Pecorino cheese, which is optional to sprinkle on top when serving.

I’ve linked to Amazon products for the sake of guiding you in the direction of some high-quality Italian products, but you can find many of these in your local grocery stores and Italian market in smaller quantities and at lower prices.

Rapini Pasta (with or without sausage)

recipe by Christina Conte (typical Italian recipe). serves 5

FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW

Ingredients

good quality pasta (gnocchetti Sardi is the shape in Stanley Tucci’s kit)
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
fresh garlic – do not sub the stuff in the jar
(hot pepper – optional)
(Pecorino Romano, DOP – optional)

How to Make Rapini Pasta

Put a large pot of water on the stove to cook the pasta, and bring to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, prep the rapini.

After washing the greens, cut the lower stems off the rapini (which are too tough to eat), and discard. Better yet, compost these stems if you can. NOTE: do not dry the rapini.

Next, slice into the bottom of the thicker stems about an inch or so, so that they cook more evenly. Chop the rapini into one or two inch pieces. I’m using a Staub cast iron sauté pan.

Now pour the olive oil into a large sauté pan over medium high heat. When it gets hot, toss in the garlic and hot pepper, if using. You can use fresh cayenne pepper or hot pepper flakes, as well.

After a minute or so, carefully add the chopped rapini. Because the water is still on the greens, the oil will spark, so try to cover the entire pan quickly.

Put the lid on immediately, then add about ⅓ cup of water, stir quickly, and put the lid back on.

When the water is coming to a boil, add 2 teaspoons of salt, then add the pasta and stir well. Cook as directed on the package (all pasta cooking times vary).

Salt the rapini with a sprinkle of sea salt (you can always add more) and let cook for about 3 minutes before checking for doneness and seasoning. The stems should be tender, but not soft. Turn and cook as long as needed, then remove from heat and take off the lid to hinder them cooking further.

Drain the pasta when it’s al dente (still has a little bite in the center), but reserve some pasta water. Put the rapini pan over low heat, then add the pasta and carefully combine them, adding more extra virgin olive oil and pasta water as needed. You don’t want a dry pasta, so be generous with both; just add a little at a time and taste as you go.

Serve along with grated Pecorino Romano (be sure to get the real cheese from Italy, if it’s marked DOP it’s the best).

Rapini and Sausage Pasta

Follow the above directions, but after cooking the rapini, fry the crumbled Italian sausage in a separate pan.

Toss the sausage into the rapini and pasta, and serve with grated Pecorino Romano, DOP.

It doesn’t look very appetizing, as far as pasta dishes go, but I can tell you that this dish is incredibly flavorful!