Sausage and Rapini Stew

Sausage and Rapini Stew
(Sosizza chi Qualazzi)

6 servings

This quick-to-prepare dish is hearty, rustic, and filled with flavor. Choose rapini with thin stems—mostly leaves and very few broccoli-like buds per stalk.

2 bunches (about 2 pounds) rapini (broccoli rabe)
1-3/4 pounds sweet (mild) thick or thin Italian sausages,
without fennel seeds
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
Sea salt
Black pepper

Clean the broccoli rabe and cut off the fibrous ends. Cook in boiling water, covered, over high heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and cool quickly under cold running water. Cut the broccoli rabe into 1-1/2 inch lengths and place them in a bowl until needed.

Cut thin sausage into 2-inch lengths, thick ones into 1-inch lengths. Put the oil in a heavy 9-inch skillet and heat it over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the sausages and lightly brown them on all sides, about 8 minutes.

Pour off the grease, return the pan to the stove, and pour in the wine. Carefully turn the heat back on and let the wine bubble for 2 minutes to evaporate the alcohol. During this time, scrape the pan and turn the sausages in the wine. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the sausage pieces are cooked, 10 to 15 minutes.

Uncover, raise the heat to medium-high, add the broccoli rabe, mixing it well with the sausage. Season with salt and a few grinding of pepper. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, allowing the flavors to mingle, and serve in pasta bowls.

Buy the Book!

from:
Many Beautiful Things
Stories and Recipes from Polizzi Generosa
By Vincent Schiavelli
Illustrations by Santo Lipani
Published by Simon & Schuster
$26.00; 240 pages
ISBN: 0-7432-1528-1
Recipe reprinted by permission.