Homemade Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Broccoli Rabe & Poached Eggs

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013

To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

I like my men like my broccoli – bitter. Of course I jest. Bitter guys suck. But bitter broccoli (broccoli rabe) or bitter cocktails (Campari)? Bring it!

This dish was not a complete success last night. I got it into my head that I wanted to make a pasta dish with a runny poached egg atop it & I wanted to take glorious photos of it. But, who knew poaching eggs was so tricky? Even using an egg poacher I almost forgot I owned – this was still tricky.

The primary issue is timing. You want the egg yolk very runny so that it can blend into your hot pasta & fresh cheese & create a creamy sauce. That doesn’t happen if your yolk is cooked. But who likes runny WHITES? Nobody. So you gotta time it perfectly. I didn’t. See?

Too cooked. What I learned is, you must time it so that there is still a little give to your egg whites & then allow the hot pasta to cook them – the whites – through when you mix the egg into your bowl. Look again at the top picture. You can see that there is still the slightest gooeyness to the whites but that quickly disappeared as the warmth from the pasta finished the job. And – the yolk was perfect.

Another issue I had was that I burned the garlic. This image shows the garlic with a large quantity of crushed red pepper but I think you can still see that it is completely browned.

Burned garlic is bitter & when added to the bitter rabe & without the benefit of a properly poached egg to mellow it out – I must confess this dish was a tad too bitter for me. But that was due to errors in my execution – not the recipe itself. So – I will post the recipe & encourage you not to overcook either the garlic or the egg. And – as to the egg – Google “how to poach an egg.” I mean – unless you are already an expert.

And, just as an aside – look how handsome my boy Memphis is!

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Homemade Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Broccoli Rabe & Poached Eggs

INGREDIENTS

1 lb pasta (or four servings homemade cracked pepper pasta)

1 head broccoli rabe – stems trimmed

1/2 cup water or stock

4 cloves garlic – minced

1 TBS crushed red pepper

2 TBS olive oil

4 eggs

Parmesan cheese – freshly grated

Parsley – chopped

S&P to taste

DIRECTIONS

Make your pasta – if you are making it fresh.

Chop the broccoli rabe into bite sized pieces. Heat the water/stock to a boil in a frying pan & add the broccoli rabe. Cook on high for about ten minutes or until the rabe is tender & the water mostly cooked off.

In another pan, heat the olive oil & saute the garlic & crushed red pepper over medium heat for a minute or two – being careful not to brown the garlic. Add the rabe to the olive oil & blend.

Cook the pasta. About 1-2 minutes before the pasta is done – poach the eggs. Drain the pasta, toss with the broccoli rabe, top each bowl with freshly grated Parmesan, a poached egg & some fresh parsley and maybe more crushed red pepper & freshly ground black pepper. Mmmmmmmm!

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