Cavatelli with Cime di Rapa, Sausage and Peperoni Cruschi / Cavatelli Pasta with Turnip Tops, Sausage and Sweet Red Peppers from Basilicata
The inspiration for this dash came after our recent trip to Matera, from where I tend to bring a few local ingredients from such as sweet crunchy peperoni cruschi, olive oil and sausages.
I’d suggest however, not to worry too much if you are unable to find the peperoni cruschi, but do try them when visiting Matera or the region of Basilicata!! It will not be the same, of course, but a sweet or lightly smoked paprika could be a good substitute.
If cime di rapa are also hard to come by or the season for these greens has come to an end,
I’d use a head of romanesco cauliflower or broccoli instead.
Buy an Italian or Italian style raw pork sausage, these are readily available in many food halls nowadays. If you want something spicier some Spanish chorizo would work in this dish too.
As you can see, you can be quite creative and intuitive with this pasta dish, inspired by certain ingredients and their concoction that I had came across a few weeks ago in Matera.
Serves 4:
- 320 g of cavatelli or orecchiette pasta
- 1 kg of cime di rapa (turnip tops)
- 220-250 g of an Italian sausage, I used fresh Luganega (also called Luganica) pork sausage (meat removed from its casing)
- 1 clove of garlic
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- 3-4 tablespoons of grated aged goats cheese or pecorino cheese
- peperoni cruschi, 2-3 per portion
Take the tender leaves only and the florets of the turnip tops from their stalks (if the stalks are tender enough use them as well) and blanch them in boiling salted water. For the best results immerse in the boiling water the stems with the florets first, and after about 1- 2 minutes add the leaves.
The greens are meant to be blanched only, depending on their tenderness and age, the whole process should take about 2-4 minutes only.
Drain (leave some cooking water for later) and squeeze to remove the excess water, then roughly chop.
Warm 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauté pan, add the garlic and the sausage meat separated into smaller pieces. Fry on a medium-low heat stirring and pressing the meat to the pan for a few minutes. Once the meat is almost cooked through add the chopped cime di rapa, and cook everything for a further 5 minutes or so. Remove the garlic and discard.
In the meantime bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.
Put in the pasta and cook until al dente.
Remove the pasta from the pot using a slotted spoon and add it to the pan with the sausage.
Add some reserved cooking water (after blanching the cime di rapa) and cook everything together tossing around for 2-3 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add more water if needed. The greens and the sausage should begin to cling to the pasta by then.
Take the pan off the heat and toss in almost the entire amount of the grated cheese.
Serve the pasta on individual plates, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of each portion, drizzle with some olive oil and decorate with crushed in your hands peperoni cruschi (or powdered paprika).
Eat immediately.
