Sauteed Broccoli Rabe

I actually made this a while back but never had a chance to post it.  I was getting bored of the regular side dishes and decided that I want to try something new.  Flipping through the book I came across this and decided I will go down to the local market to try to find broccoli rabe.  As it would turn out, even here in the bay area as part of northern California, it took me a while to find it.  As you can see from below, it looks quite different from broccoli or even broccolini.  

Broccoli Rabe (Bunched)

I quickly washed and separated the bunch.

Broccoli Rabe After Wash - Florets Visible

Next I followed the instructions by bringing a very large pot of water with a lot of salt to a boil and plunged the broccoli rabe into it.  What happens next is the way that Thomas Keller recommends for blanching any large amount of raw and leafy green vegetables.  It works very well as it maintains the texture and keeps the veggies looking very green and refreshing.  Don't be afraid to salt the water here as it really helps with the flavor.  The book also recommended doing this in batches if you had a lot of vegetable vs. the pot, but since I didn't have too many, I just put it all in together.

Broccoli Rabe Blanching in Large Pot of Salted Water

It took about 4 minutes to boil, until it was about right to my taste - tender but not mushy.  You then plunge the cooked broccoli rabe to an ice bath that was set up earlier.

Ice Bath Standing By

Inside the Ice Bath

After the ice bath stops the cooking process immediately, I used a cooling rack set on top of a baking sheet lined with paper towel to help dry off the vegetable.

Paper Towel Lined Cooling Rack on Baking Sheet

After the broccoli rabe completely dries off, I then sautee some garlic in my wok along with red pepper flakes.

Garlic with Red Pepper Flakes

After tossing the broccoli rabe inside, the result is a simple but amazing side dish.

Sauteed Broccoli Rabe with Garlic and Chile Flakes

Tasting:

Thomas Keller repeatedly says that we eat with our eyes first and he's right.  Cooking this vegetable using the blanch -> ice bath -> cooling rack method was very involved but it gave the broccoli rabe such a green color even after it was sauteed again later.  The taste was great also, it has a fairly strong bitter note at the very end, but it's nicely complimented by the heat given by the red pepper flakes.  It does remind me quite a bit of another vegetable that's very common in Chinese cooking - Gai Lan/Jie Lan (or known as Chinese broccoli)  I highly recommend serving this along side a steak or other kind of meat-heavy dish.