For the fresh pasta:

• 4 cups
• 4 large eggs

For the rest of the dish:

• 1 pound hot or sweet Italian sausage, with or without casing
• 1 bunch of broccoli rabe
• 6 cloves of fresh garlic, minced (less if you aren’t as obsessed with garlic as I am)
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• ¼ cup of chopped parsley
• ½ cups caciocavallo (you can substitute parmigiano-reggiano or provalone if you can’t find caciocavallo)
• 1 cup of fresh ricotta
• Zest of ½ lemon
• Dash of vinaigrette (I used a pomegranate vinaigrette)
• Salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• Olive oil

If I had to make a list of top 5 desert island foods, pasta with broccoli rabe and sausage would have to be on the list. This recipe is my spin on a recipe by Mario Batali, and it’s a great rendition of this classic dish. If you don’t have the means or desire to make your own pasta, you can always substitute with store-bough pasta. Dry pasta is one option, but if you can’t make your own pasta, I definitely recommend using the fresh pastas in the grocery store refrigerated aisle, like Buitoni. But homemade pasta is a lot of fun and not too hard to make. All you need is a KitchenAid pasta attachment or some other kind of pasta maker.

To make the fresh pasta using a KitchenAid Mixer, put the flour and eggs in your mixing bowl with the paddle attachment and mix for one minute on “stir.” Then replace the paddle attachment with the hook attachment and mix for two minutes on speed two. The pasta dough should end up with a consistency similar to Play-Doh. If it’s too tough, you can add small amounts of water, one teaspoon at a time. If it’s too doughy, rub with a bit of flour. Knead the dough for two minutes, then roll into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

Don’t have a KitchenAid? Put the flour and eggs in a mixing bowl and combine with a fork until eggs are well mixed in with the flour. Once they are combined, knead until dough becomes one solid mass, and continue to knead for 10 more minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add a little flour as you knead until you reach the consistency of Play-Doh. Wrap in plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

After dough has rested, use a Kitchen Aid or other pasta maker to make the shape of your choice. I used fusilli here.

Once you’ve made your pasta, set aside and continue working on the rest of the recipe.

Fill a pot with boiling water to blanch the broccoli rabe. Chop the broccoli rabe into small, bite-sized pieces. I like to remove the stems, but some people like the crunch. If you like them, leave them in! Just make sure they’re chopped small enough that they don’t become unwieldy in the pasta.

Add a dash of salt to the boiling water. Put the rabe into the boiling water for only 10 or 20 seconds and immediately drain. Reserve ½ cup of the rabe water to use later for a sauce. Place rabe directly into ice water to stop the rabe from continuing to cook and then drain again. You can boil them slightly longer if you want to subdue the bitterness in the rabe or have a softer texture, but I personally prefer to keep as much flavor as possible!

Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat and add a table spoon of olive oil. If you are using sausage without casing you can just place in the pan. If you’re using with casing, chop into small pieces. Once oil has heated, add the sausages and brown in the pan for 6 to 8 minutes.

Place the sausage in a separate bowl and set to the side. In the sauté pan used to cook the sausage, add the chili flakes and rabe. Season with salt and pepper according to taste and sauté for two minutes. Add the garlic and cook for two more minutes.

Bring another pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook pasta according to the type of pasta you’re using. Drain pasta and combine in a pan with the cooked rabe and sausage. Add the parsley and the reserved rabe water. Pour a generous drizzle of olive oil and a drizzle of pomegranate vinaigrette and stir to combine.

Combine ricotta, caciocavallo, lemon zest, and a dash of salt in a bowl. I used an ice cream scoop to put a nice dollop of the cheese mixture on top. And voila! Pasta rabe.