Orecchiette With ’Nduja, Shrimp and Tomatoes

Orecchiette With ’Nduja, Shrimp and Tomatoes
Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(424)
Notes
Read community notes

’Nduja, a chile-spiked, cured pork sausage, lends bold flavor and heat to this arrabiata-style sauce. If you can’t find ’nduja at your local supermarket, feel free to swap in your favorite fresh chorizo or pork sausage and a flurry of red-pepper flakes. Be sure to pick a pasta that can hold this hefty sauce. The deep pockets in orecchiette will do nicely, capturing flavor in every bite. The trick here is to allow the pasta to finish cooking right in the garlicky sauce, which is thickened by the starchy pasta cooking water. A topping of lemony bread crumbs adds texture and brightness.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • Kosher salt
  • 12ounces orecchiette
  • 2slices day-old Italian bread, cut about ½-inch thick and torn into small pieces, or ½ cup panko bread crumbs
  • 5tablespoons olive oil
  • Zest and juice from ½ lemon
  • 2tablespoons chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
  • 2shallots, sliced
  • 4garlic cloves, sliced
  • 4ounces ’nduja, or fresh chorizo or pork sausage, casings removed
  • 1(14.5-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes and their juices
  • 12ounces shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed, meat finely chopped
  • 2cups roughly chopped broccoli rabe (about ¼ pound)
  • Red-pepper flakes (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

819 calories; 31 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 18 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 82 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 55 grams protein; 1142 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high. Cook the pasta, reserving 1½ cups pasta cooking water and draining the pasta about 2 minutes before al dente.

  2. Step 2

    In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment, pulse the torn bread until coarsely chopped. Skip this step if you are using panko.

  3. Step 3

    In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium. Add the bread crumbs, and toast until golden-brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Add the lemon zest and parsley, season with salt and toss to coat.

  4. Step 4

    Using a paper towel, wipe out the skillet and heat the remaining 3 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Cook the shallots until softened, about 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and golden-brown around the edges, about 2 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    Crumble in the ’nduja and cook, using a spatula to break it up into smaller pieces, until the oil is bright red from the chiles in the pork, about 3 minutes.

  6. Step 6

    Add the tomatoes and their juices, tearing the tomatoes into smaller chunks with your hands as you add them to the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the sauce, scraping the bottom of the pan occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 6 minutes.

  7. Step 7

    Stir in the shrimp, broccoli rabe, pasta and ½ cup of the reserved pasta cooking water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente, about 3 minutes, adding more pasta cooking water as needed.

  8. Step 8

    Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste with salt. Top the pasta with the seasoned bread crumbs and a pinch of red-pepper flakes, if using.

Ratings

4 out of 5
424 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Seems author intends raw broccoli rabe (rapini) to be cooked about 3 min. as part of step 7. Broccoli rabe (turnip family) is one of few green veg that benefits from long cooking. Too crunchy and far too bitter as spec'd here. Cook it first. (Italian hubby so we use rapini regularly.) For good tutorial see Samin's Nosrat's Salt-Fat-Acid-Heat or any recipe here by her using rapini. Or, Viola Butoni's method to cook rapini to use in any dish. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rapini_b_4072299

What? You didn't swap the pasta out for rice?

Very good. Made with chorizo, used canned diced tomatoes instead of whole just to save on time, and swapped the rabe for spinach. Delicious.

This is a good recipe but could use some small adjustment. As noted by another reader, you need to cook the rabe longer than a few minutes. I added it after the shallots and garlic with 1/2 cup water and salt to reduce the bitterness. I have to say the rabe ended up a bit overcooked, but the alternative would be to blanch it separately in advance, but that's just too fussy for a weeknight meal. Also, I substituted black squid-ink strozzapreti and fresh calamari. It came out really well.

This turned out alright. I was pretty underwhelmed before I added the lemon juice, but it really rounded out the dish. I was expecting it to be really hot per one comment, but I wish I had added a pinch of pepper flakes with the nduja. The only thing I'd do differently next time (if there's a next time,) is add the shrimp much later. The pasta, pasta water, and shallot/nduja mixture needed too much time to marry and the shrimp overcooked by the time that happened.

Try this with rock shrimp. Beware the spiciness of the 'nduja! I crumbled some extra into the pan for good measure last night, and it was almost too hot to eat!

Why is everyone always trying to reduce the bitterness of broccoli rabe? The bitterness is it’s glory. And works beautifully with the other rich components

And the other half of the population thinks the bitterness is disgusting!

I didn’t have any greens around that seemed right for this dish so skipped adding them. Was amazing. Used a gluten free pasta that added a little sweetness which was needed/worked well with the n’duja. I used fresh tomatoes as well and just put them in the food processor. Absolutely delicious.

Lucky me, I happened to have all the ingredients from Italy. Used a fresh heirloom tomato instead and cooked it longer. Blanched the broccoli rabe before cooking the pasta. Used tiny frozen shrimps, wished I had more. Nduja with spicy pepper in a jar worked very nicely. Delicious!

I could not find chorizo or 'njuda sausage and went with sweet Italian sausage. as a result I don't think we had the benefit of the more flavorful varieties. I would definitely make this again with one of the other sausages and also add more tomatoes. A couple of comments suggested the rabe was not cooked enough based on the directions. I did not find that to be the case for me.

Double the sausage, half the shrimp, needs salt & chili flakes, I'd also wait to cook the pasta because the orecchiette sticks together

Learn from my failed shortcuts! Step 1 went great, but I used dried pasta (wish I’d used fresh). Skipped steps 2 & 3 (had neither on hand), and left step 5 as an add-on (not all in the household can do spicy). Steps 4 & 6 went well. The order of steps in 7 meant that by the time the shrimp firmed up, the pasta fell apart and the sauce got gluey. Opting for frozen vegetables contributed to 7 failing. Would do pasta separately & add at the end. Still tasted good, esp with lemon juice & zest.

I agree the the broccoli rabe needs to cook longer. I boiled it with the pasta, then added both to the tomatoes with the shrimp. It was delicious.

This is a good recipe but could use some small adjustment. As noted by another reader, you need to cook the rabe longer than a few minutes. I added it after the shallots and garlic with 1/2 cup water and salt to reduce the bitterness. I have to say the rabe ended up a bit overcooked, but the alternative would be to blanch it separately in advance, but that's just too fussy for a weeknight meal. Also, I substituted black squid-ink strozzapreti and fresh calamari. It came out really well.

It would be better to leave shrimp whole, or maybe just cut in half. Also think more lemon juice was needed. But will definitely make again

This was so good. My husband makes‘nduja and we’re always looking for recipes and this is wonderful. One change, we don’t grow broccoli rabe, but grow and freeze A LOT of Tuscan Kale so I used that. Yummy! I was concerned the shrimp would be lost in the dish but it really added a nice sweetness

Made exactly as directed. It’s so so.

Very good, but more time consuming than the 30 minutes suggests. I used raw shrimp so had to put a lid on the pan to get that cooked through - wish I had taken the pasta out initially even a little bit earlier to reserve the “bite” when cooked again in the pan.

I made this with beyond sausage and asparagus (because I didn’t have broccolini) and it was delicious!! Definitely recommend adding pepper flakes - a little spice makes this even better. I also think next time I would add feta before serving.

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