Sauteed Broccoli Rabe with Garlic and Parmesan Recipe

My first taste of broccoli rabe (a.k.a.broccoletti or rapini) was at my favorite Italian hole-in-the-wall Mamma Zu here in Richmond. After watching enormous platters of the garlic and olive oil-laden stuff go out to nearly all of the tables surrounding us, the aroma alone was enough to give it a try. And, holy crap was it good. Tender and a bit bitter with just the right amount of crunch on the stalky ends, the rabe was literally smothered in freshly minced garlic. A little squeeze of lemon and a few spins of the black pepper mill and I was in heaven.

It wasn't long before I sought out to recreate Mamma's version at home. I quickly learned that blanching the stalks in rapidly boiling, generously salted water and then shocking them in a water bath was key to an expertly tender stalk that still maintains just a smidgen of snap when it hits the teeth. I also learned that this step cannot be skipped (i.e. just throw it all in the pan with some olive oil) since the beauty of broccoli rabe is its inherent bitterness, yet at the same time this naturally pungent flavor can easily overwhelm the entire dish. Blanching the stalks for just a minute or two is enough to temper the bitter flavor and also get a jump start the cooking process.  

So, while I clearly had the blanching part down, for the life of me, I couldn't get my version to taste like Mamma's no matter how many various incarnations I tried when it came to the second step (sauteeing the rabe in aromatics). The beauty of Mamma's version is that it's quite generous on all ingredients: gobs of good quality olive oil, a ridiculous amount of garlic, sea salt city and more than a dash of crushed red pepper. Perhaps a splash of white wine as well? Only Mamma knows. When I attempted this combination in true Mamma Zu form, what I got was a gloppy, over seasoned, oil-soaked mess. Thank god I had some Billy Bread to salvage the dish and soak up my saucy nightmare.

Attempt number two yielded much better results as I went for a simpler, less overly oiled version. I guess you call this rip of Mamma's version a bit more refined. I kept the redonkulous amount of minced garlic part in, but I went much easier on the oil and left off the white wine completely, instead adding just a bit of fresh lemon juice. I seasoned generously with salt and pepper (and crushed red pepper) and threw in a couple sprinkles of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Turn out pretty darned good, I must say. In fact, I just *might* have made Mamma proud, although I seriously doubt it.

For any of you home cooks seeking a simple, flavorful, Italian restaurant-inspired dish that will most definitely give you some rocking good dragon breath, try this on for size:

Sauteed Broccoli Rabe with Garlic and Parmesan

Serves 4

1 pound broccoli rabe
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3-4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Accompaniment: Sliced lemon wedges

Slice off the last 1-inch or so from the broccoli rabe stems and discard. Fill a 6 quart pot with water and a 1/2 tablespoon of salt, and bring up to a boil. Drop broccoli rabe into rapidly boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, or until barely tender. Remove broccoli rabe to a large bowl filled with ice water and submerge. Let fully cool, then drain well.

Preheat a large sauté pan. Add olive oil. Next, add garlic and crushed red pepper. Saute for one minute, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add broccoli rabe and sauté until just heated through.  Squeeze lemon juice over and sauté one more minute. Season generously with salt and pepper. Remove to a serving platter and sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve immediately with crusty bread for dipping.

©2011 Fatback and Foie Gras. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission Pin It Now!

Authentic West Virginia Pepperoni Roll Recipe

Pepperoni rolls must have a generous grease stain.

My great-grandfather was a foreman in the West Virginia mines near Welch, and he was responsible for a large group of men, many of whom who had immigrated to West Virginia in the early 1900's in order to find steady work with then booming King Coal. It’s estimated that during this time over 27 different nationalities were represented throughout West Virginia with nearly half of this population originating from southern Italy. By 1910, there were more than 17,000 Italian immigrants throughout the state. In fact, there were so many Italians living and working in the West Virginia mines, that for a time, the Italian government maintained a consular office in the northern part of state to oversee their interests.

From a culinary standpoint, many West Virginians were, in turn, introduced to traditional Italian cooking for the first time in their lives, including my family, who hail from Bluefield, Princeton and Fairmont. Homemade meatballs, peppers slow cooked in tomato sauce, cream cakes, and slow-cooked tomato “gravies” laden with beef, sausages and pork served atop steamy spaghetti were commonplace at our dinner table and still are today. Yet, there’s one particular delicacy that defines the Italian melting pot that is West Virginia—the pepperoni roll.

The story goes like this. Italian miners, like all miners back then, needed something non-perishable and easily portable to pack into their lunch pails (or pants pockets) as they often worked very long hours deep inside the mines. For many Italians, lunch frequently consisted of a piece of bread stuffed with couple of pieces of cured meat. It wasn’t long before an entrepreneurial miner in Fairmont, W.V., Frank Agiro, decided to experiment with baking a couple of bits of salumi inside of a yeast roll and thus, the pepperoni roll was born. Not soon after, Agiro put down his pickax and opened the now famous Country Club Bakery, which is still in operation today.

Pepperoni rolls stuffed with Oliverio Peppers are indeed "almost heaven".

Consisting of a couple of strips of spicy pepperoni enrobed in a slightly sweet dough, this convenient treat has a dizzying array of variations. My grandmother in Fairmont insists on chopping her pepperoni into small pieces before mixing the bits into her dough while my mother is a proponent of hand-slicing thick chunks of pepperoni and then wrapping the sticks of meat with a dense potato yeast roll dough. Other variations include stuffing the rolls with mozzarella cheese, onions, marinara and/or sweet peppers cooked in tomato sauce.

However you choose to slice or dice your pepperoni roll, a few fundamentals remain. One, a yeast-risen bread dough is essential to doing it the West Virginia way (not pizza dough since that's a stromboli). Two, you must be generous with the pepperoni. No chintzing. Finally, and most importantly, somewhere in each of your rolls there must be a decent ‘roni grease stain, although often this takes care of itself (see number two and note the photo at the top of this page).

Here is the recipe for pepperoni rolls that we've been making in our family for years. The dough is a little bit of work but well worth the effort.

Authentic West Virginia Pepperoni Roll Recipe
Makes about 20 rolls

Ingredients

1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
½ cup of warm water
½ cup plus ½ teaspoon sugar
1-2 white potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
½ cup of shortening
1 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
7 to 8 cups of A.P. flour
1 ½ sticks of pepperoni, cut into matchsticks (about 1 pound total)

For the glaze:
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1 egg

Instructions

Mix yeast, warm water and the ½ teaspoon sugar in a bowl and let stand at room temperature for 45 minutes. It will get foamy. Cook potatoes until tender in about three cups of water (enough to make approximately 2 ½ cups leftover potato water). Mix your cooked potatoes and 2 ½ cups potato water in a blender. Add the ½ cup sugar, shortening and salt, and blend well. Add your egg and blend 5 seconds more.

Cool mixture to lukewarm. Then pour the mixture into a big bowl and add the yeast mixture. Slowly add 4 cups of flour and beat until smooth. Add 3 to 4 more cups of flour and knead until the dough is fairly stiff but still a little sticky. Place dough in a large greased bowl and cover it with plastic. Then cover your bowl with a wet kitchen towel and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. (Note: the dough will keep in the fridge for 5 to 6 days. Be sure to push down the dough at least once per day.) You can also rise you dough for 2-3 hours in a very warm room or an oven proofer.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Turn dough onto a floured board and cut into quarters. Continue to cut into roughly 20 pieces (you can make 40 smaller rolls for appetizers if you like). Take a piece of the dough and push it flat. Then place a couple of pieces of pepperoni in the middle (overlapping and not stacking) and roll it up. Pinch the ends of the dough to hold the pepperoni inside. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat until you’ve used up all of your dough and pepperoni.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Add your egg and mix well. Brush rolls with this mixture and then bake them until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

For a much quicker version of this recipe, use hot dog buns or hoagie rolls (or use frozen dough to make the pepperoni rolls). With purchased buns, simply fill them with strips of sliced pepperoni, sliced peppers in tomato sauce and mozzarella, and bake as above.




All photos and text ©2014 Fatback and Foie Gras. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission Pin It Now!