Rapini with Butternut Squash
I do so love long weekends. The best part of this one? Having an extra day that let me cook just for the love of it yesterday, leaving the prep for the upcoming week to today. Yesterday I made Tortilla Soup – SO yummy, but I’ll share that recipe when the weather gets cooler. Today my star dish is Rapini with Butternut Squash.
Rapini is a very interesting vegetable. It’s also known as Broccoli Rabe, because it looks a little like broccoli. But in fact it’s a member of the Mustard family, and you can taste that. This is a vegetable that needs to be blanched (plunged into boiling water for a few minutes) before you eat it, to counter bitterness and bring out its delicious flavor. I found a great article on the Huffington Post about it: Don’t Be So Bitter! How to Make Perfect Rapini. This article tells you all about rapini and describes in detail how to blanch it as preparation for use in other recipes.
Based on the description of what it goes well with, I thought I’d try combining rapini with butternut squash, which is easy to prepare and has a delicious sweetness. My intuition was right on the money! This recipe is more informal than most, because I just threw it together, so if you are unsure about what I mean or have any questions, just post a comment below. If you try it / like it / tweak it, I’d love to know that too!
Happy cooking.
Rapini with Butternut Squash
1 bunch rapini, washed, trimmed, and coarsely chopped
1 butternut squash, seeded, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
Blanch the chopped rapini by putting it into 3-4 quarts of boiling water for 3 or 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Saute the chopped squash in coconut or grapeseed oil (more about that later in another post) until it starts to brown a little, then add the onion and cook until the onion is transparent and the squash is tender. Stir in the blanched rapini and heat through. Salt & pepper to taste & serve hot.