BAKED PASTA WITH BROCCOLI RABE AND SAUSAGE

BAKED PASTA WITH BROCCOLI RABE AND SAUSAGE image

Categories Cheese Pasta Pork Dinner Casserole/Gratin Broccoli

Number Of Ingredients 14

Ingredients

Pasta and assembly
1 pound chunky pasta of your choice (I love bell shapes; see above for details)
1 bundle broccoli rabe (see above for options), stems and leaves cut into 1-inch segments
1 pound Italian sausage (sweet or spicy pork or chicken), casings removed
2/3 cup grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese
6 ounces mozzarella, cut into small cubes
Bechamel
2 cups milk, full fat is ideal
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
Few gratings fresh nutmeg

Steps:

Cook the pasta and rabe: Bring large pot of well-salted water to boil. Add pasta and 5min before its cooking time is up, add broccoli rabe. Drain the broccoli rabe and pasta together and place in a large bowl. Cook your sausage: Meanwhile, 1-2T tablespoons olive oil in a large, wide saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it starts to brown, about five minutes. Remove with slotted spoon or spatula, leaving any fat behind. Eyeball the drippings (pork sausage will leave some; chicken usually does not) - use one tablespoon less butter next if it looks like there's a tablespoon there. Any less, don't worry about adjusting the butter. Heat oven to 400F. Make the bechamel: Melt butter in same saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, add flour and stir it into butter until smooth. Cook mixture together for a minute, stirring constantly. Pour in small drizzle of your milk, whisking constantly into butter-flour mixture until smooth. Continue to drizzle a very small amount at a time, whisking constantly. Once you've added a little over half of your milk, you'll find that you have more of a thick sauce or batter, and you can start adding the milk in larger splashes, being sure to keep mixing. Once all the milk is added, add salt, garlic, nutmeg, and few grinds of black pepper, and bring mixture to a lower simmer and cook it, stirring frequently, for 10 min. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Assemble and bake: Add sausage and bechamel to the bowl with pasta and broccoli rabe. Stir in mozzarella and half of grated parmesan or pecorino until combined. Pour into a lasagna pan, deep 9×13-inch baking dish* or 3-quart casserole dish and coat with remaining parmesan or pecorino. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the edges and craggy points are nicely bronzed.