BROCCOLI RABE HERO
MAKES 2 HEROS
Our uncle Frankie—our motha’s motha’s brotha—was eccentric. He was nuts. He never married and had nine dogs all named Puppy and seven cats. He used to make these S-shaped cookies and they would always have cat hair in ’em. And he would just scream bloody murder at the top of his lungs at these cats and dogs. You could hear him from three blocks away. Anyways, every Sunday he would walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to go to the Cammareri Bros. bakery on Sackett and Henry to buy bread. You know the one—where Nick Cage filmed his big Moonstruck scene (“Bring me the big knife!”). Frankie would take the ferry back, and our grandfather would go pick him up and bring him over to the house. He had to get picked up because he never figured out how to drive. When he moved to Staten Island from Brooklyn, he finally got his driver’s license and bought a ’75 Mustang—the year Ford made some really ugly Mustangs. But it was bright red and in mint condition like it was right out of a magazine. Thing is, though, by the time he got it home from the dealership, it was all smashed up. The hood was bashed in, the fender all messed up, a coupla dents in the roof. He’d be out there crashing into parked cars and everything. He went and got his car all fixed up, but he wrecked it again. At one point the cops just followed him home to make sure he didn’t crash into anything else. The guy couldn’t drive.
Uncle Frankie
Crazy as he mighta been, though, that bread he picked up from Cammareri’s was the best. And when you have good bread, some broccoli rabe sautéed in garlic and oil until it’s nice and soft, and pecorino—it’s the most delicious thing you could eat. We serve this in our hero shop, and people are always surprised to see broccoli rabe on a sandwich. But in our family, it was a popular thing, a very Sicilian thing to eat, real peasant food. And once people try it, they love it. Plus, when you start eatin’ these and stop havin’ chicken cutlets or sausage, you start losin’ a little weight.
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 pounds broccoli rabe (like the Andy Boy bundles), bottom inch of the stems removed and the rest cut into roughly 2-inch pieces
½ cup chicken stock
12 kalamata olives, pitted
1 loaf good crusty Italian bread
½ cup grated pecorino
In a frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes. Cook until the garlic is lightly browned. Add the broccoli rabe and sauté for a minute or two. Add the chicken stock and olives, cover, and let simmer until tender. Spread the mixture on the bread and let all the juices get absorbed. Sprinkle with the pecorino and serve hot.
