Salsiccie e broccoli is a popular meal in southern Italy. It is made with pork sausages and the local bitter leafy green called cime di rapa. I have taken these two beloved ingredients and made them into this nutritious lasagne. Instead of cime di rapa, which is hard to come by in this country, I have used normal broccoli florets, which are cooked and then blended.
Serves four to six
- 350g broccoli florets
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, lightly crushed but left whole
- 300g Italian pork sausages
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- 6 dried lasagne sheets
- 40g grated Parmesan cheese
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper For the béchamel sauce
- 40g butter
- 40g plain flour
- 500ml milk
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- 10g grated Parmesan cheese
1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan/200C/gas mark 6.
2. Cook the broccoli in salted boiling water until tender, about five minutes. Drain, reserving a little of the water.
3. Heat two tablespoons of the olive oil in a frying pan, sweat the garlic over a medium heat for a minute, then add the broccoli and stir-fry for about five minutes. Remove from the heat and, using a stick blender, blend with a little of the cooking water until smooth.
4. Remove the skins from the sausages and crumble the meat. Heat the remaining oil in another frying pan, sweat the onion for about five minutes until softened, then stir in the crumbled sausagemeat. Add a little salt and stir-fry for about 10 minutes, until the sausagemeat is golden brown.
5. In the meantime, make the béchamel sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, take it off the heat and quickly whisk in the flour, then gradually whisk in the milk. Return to the heat and cook over a low heat, whisking, until the sauce begins to thicken slightly. Remove from the heat, add a little salt and pepper, the nutmeg and grated Parmesan.
5. Line an ovenproof dish with a little béchamel sauce, followed by two lasagne sheets and a layer of broccoli, then sprinkle over some sausagemeat, then a little grated Parmesan. Continue making layers until you have used up all the ingredients, ending with a topping of béchamel sauce and a final sprinkling of cheese.
6. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for a further 15 minutes until golden and bubbling.
7. Remove from the oven, leave to rest for five minutes and serve.
Gennaro’s Cucina: Hearty Money-Saving Meals from an Italian Kitchen by Gennaro Contaldo is published by Pavilion Books, price £25
Pictures: David Loftus.
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