The Hirshon Puglian Pasta With Greens, Sausage And Anchovy – Orrechiette Alla Barese

Citizens, it is my great pleasure to share with you one of my favorite rustic pasta dishes from Italy, from the mighty southern region of Apulia (aka Puglia)!

Orecchiette (from the Italian orecchia, meaning ‘ear’, and -etta, meaning ‘small’) are a variety of homemade pasta typical of Apulia, a region of southern Italy. Their name comes from their shape, which resembles a small ear. In the vernacular of Taranto it is called recchietedd, or chiancaredd. A slightly flatter version is called cencioni, while in the vernacular of Bari strascinate are more similar to cavatelli.

As noted on the fantastic food blog splendidtable.com:

In the seaside town of Bari down in Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot, the orecchiette makers are out in force every morning, lining the stone-paved streets of vecchia Bari, the oldest part of this very old town. With quick, deft gestures, these ladies shape dabs of durum-and-water dough by hand into orecchiette (the name means “little ears”), small, thumb-print pasta shapes that are then set out to dry in the open air on big wooden trays. Shoppers passing by on their way home from the market make their selection, buying orecchiette by the kilo for the family lunch.

Alla barese, in the Bari style, always means this favorite preparation, made with the spicy greens called broccoli rabe or rapini in America, a little garlic, a pinch of chili pepper, and a few anchovies for the salt. Broccoli rabe is widely available in supermarket produce sections, but if by chance you can’t find it, you may substitute another pungent autumnal green such as mustard greens, collards or even Chinese broccoli. Patience Gray, who lived for many years in the Salentino, the tip end of the heel of the Italian boot, told us that cooks there sometimes made a similar dish using wild foraged arugula, but in that case they added a handful of pungent local cheese, grated on top.

Packaged orecchiette are easy to find, but you could substitute farfalle, conchiglie (small shells), or fusilli (corkscrews).

Citizens, my version of this classic recipe hews very closely to the original recipe, but calls for a bit of turnip greens for bitterness and my favored proportions of spices. There is very little to improve on here – I am confident you will enjoy it! 🙂

Battle on – The Generalissimo

The Hirshon Puglian Pasta With Greens, Sausage And Anchovy – Orrechiette Alla Barese

---

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

• Total Time: 0 hours

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 8 oz dried orrechiette pasta
• 8 oz Italian sausage, preferably a variety flavored with fennel seed, use out of casing
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 ounces mixed wild rabes, or rapini/broccoli rabe
• 2 ounces of turnip greens, or if unavailable, use broccoli rabe
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste - preferably the lightly-smoked chili flakes from Daphnis & Chloe (this is a TFD change, use regular chili flakes for original)
• 8 anchovy filets preserved in oil - TFD uses ONLY Ortiz brand!
• 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano

Get Recipe Ingredients

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the greens for 30 seconds, then remove and shock in an ice bath to preserve their color. Drain the greens thoroughly and squeeze out any water, chop finely and reserve.
2. For the pasta, begin by heating a large sauté pan, add a tbsp of the oil and brown the sausage on medium heat, breaking it into small clumps with a wooden spoon. Remove the sausage from the pan, discard the fat and reserve the sausage. Do not clean the pan.
3. In the pan the sausage was cooked, add the chopped garlic to the oil in a small skillet and cook over gentle heat just until the garlic bits are soft. Stir in the anchovy and use a fork to crush and mash them into the hot oil until they dissolve.
4. Add the chili pepper and stir. Remove the skillet from the heat—but warm it again just to the sizzling point before pouring it over the pasta.
5. Add the breadcrumbs and stir to coat with the mixture, cook on low-medium heat until the breadcrumbs are golden brown. Add the sausage back to the pan.
6. Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil, then add the orrechiette. Stir the pasta vigorously during cooking since orrechiette is notorious for sticking together, which causes it to cook unevenly.
7. When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain it completely, tossing in the colander to remove water, then add to the pan with the sausage and crumbs.
8. Add the chopped rapini, mix and then serve immediately covered with grated romano cheese.
9. If this pasta isn’t eaten right trapped steam will destroy the crunch, which is part of what makes it so interesting.

• Prep Time: 0 hours
• Cook Time: 0 hours
• Category: Recipes

Nutrition

• Calories: 877.37 kcal
• Sugar: 2.23 g
• Sodium: 866.08 mg
• Fat: 62.82 g
• Saturated Fat: 13.75 g
• Trans Fat: 0.0 g
• Carbohydrates: 55.21 g
• Fiber: 3.47 g
• Protein: 23.28 g
• Cholesterol: 58.47 mg