pasta and rabes

difficulty: moderately sticky situation
yum factor: 5/5 stars
price: less than $9

*this is another family recipe. broccoli rabe, or rabes [pronounced 'rah-bees'] are an acquired taste. as a kid i hated their bitter qualities, but they've since grown on me. they can be easily found in the produce section, usually toward the back behind broccoli and fresh spinach. if you don't like the taste of this veggie, you can substitute normal broccoli at the risk of losing italian street cred.

ingredients:
1 package of chicken sausage (sweet, garlic, or hot works with this)
1 bunch of broccoli rabe
1 lb pasta
about 1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
red pepper flakes (to taste)
salt (to taste)

other stuff you'll need:
pan
skillet
strainer
wooden spoons to cook with

directions:
wash your broccoli rabe. cut off any ends which are larger than the width of your pinkie finger (they'll be too tough to eat). boil water in a pan large enough to hold your rabe on high. add uncooked rabe and allow it to blanche for about 10 minutes in boiling water. doing this makes your broccolini tender and also makes sure that it will stay bright green. drain these and set aside.

chop your three cloves of garlic into semi large pieces (or if you want to be fancy, we call it rustic) and put this in the bottom of a skillet with a small drizzzle of olive oil over medium heat. here's where you can add the red pepper flakes, more means spicier. let the oil/garlic/red pepper do it's magic in the pan for about ten minutes. cut up your chicken sausage and add this to your garlic-infused oil. allow this to cook completely, flipping your slices over periodically.

while that's cooking, boil enough water to make pasta the usual way. while that's heating up, add your cooked rabes to the sausage and oil pan. cook and drain your pasta, adding it back to the pan which you used to cook it in. add the 1/2 cup of olive oil to this pan, putting it back onto low heat. mix in the cooked sausage and rabes, season to your liking and eat.