Pasta with Rapini, Chickpeas & a Poached Eggs
Rapini, or Broccoli Rabe (same thing) is a healthy and delicious cruciferous vegetable. You can eat the stem, buds and leaves. It does have a kind of pungent, bitter taste which doesn’t bother me – in fact I kind of like that about it! But you can remove some of the bitterness by blanching it for a few minutes in boiling salted water before preparing this dish. The pasta, parmesan and egg does help to mellow out the bitterness as well.
This is a simple dish to assemble for a healthy vegetarian one-dish meal. If you don’t like Broccoli Rabe, you can always substitute regular broccoli.
Ingredients:
- 4 – 6 cups of cooked pasta (any shape works – gluten free works too)
- 1 bunch of rapini (the ends trimmed and cut into pieces)
- 3 – 4 TB. of olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 lemon (1/2 thinly sliced – save the other half to use the juice)
- 1 cup of drained chickpeas
- 1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 eggs (poached)
To Prepare For The Dish:
- * Cook the pasta according to directions – drizzle with olive oil and cover and set aside.
- * poach 2 – 3 eggs and set aside in a bowl of warm water. (google “best way to poach an egg”)
- * grate the parmesan and set aside
- * drain the chickpeas ands set aside
- * peel and mince the garlic cloves
- * prepare the rapini by trimming and cutting it into pieces
To Make the Dish:
* put 1 TB. of the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the lemon slices and brown lightly until golden on each side. Remove and set aside.
* Add a few more TB. of the olive oil, the garlic, rapini and the chickpeas and lightly saute. Turn the heat to low and sprinkle the parmesan on top – put a lid on the skillet to let it warm through and melt the cheese slightly. Before serving top it with the poached eggs. Drizzle a little more olive oil on top, add a touch of salt and pepper and a squeeze of the lemon.
Serve and enjoy!
