Italian Sweet and Sour Broccoli Rabe
By America's Test KitchenPublished on November 7, 2011
Time
45 minutes
Yield
Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Sweet golden raisins balance the somewhat bitter broccoli rabe. If using black raisins, increase the brown sugar by 1 teaspoon.
Instructions
- BLANCH Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a large pot. Add broccoli rabe and 1 tablespoon salt and cook until just tender, about 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
- MAKE SAUCE Heat oil in empty pot over medium heat until shimmering. Cook onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add raisins, vinegar, orange juice, and sugar and cook until syrupy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add drained broccoli rabe to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until well coated and just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.
Time
45 minutesYield
Serves 4 to 6Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
To guarantee that all the components of our Italian Sweet and Sour Broccoli Rabe cooked properly, we chopped the rabe into small pieces before cooking. Blanching—quickly cooking in salted boiling water—the broccoli rabe before sautéing simultaneously softened its crunch and tamed its mustardy bite.
In southern Italy, broccoli rabe is often flavored with a sauce made by simmering vinegar with sugar and sometimes aromatics until the mixture is syrupy. For our version of Italian Sweet and Sour Broccoli Rabe, we reached for red wine vinegar, as balsamic became unpleasantly heavy when reduced. Most recipes called for white sugar, but brown sugar added warmth along with sweetness. The sauce still needed more complexity, so we added raisins and orange juice to round things out. When the mixture became syrupy, we tossed in the blanched rabe.
Before You Begin
Sweet golden raisins balance the somewhat bitter broccoli rabe. If using black raisins, increase the brown sugar by 1 teaspoon.
Instructions
- BLANCH Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a large pot. Add broccoli rabe and 1 tablespoon salt and cook until just tender, about 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
- MAKE SAUCE Heat oil in empty pot over medium heat until shimmering. Cook onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add raisins, vinegar, orange juice, and sugar and cook until syrupy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add drained broccoli rabe to pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until well coated and just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.
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