The Best Sautéed Broccoli Rabe Is Overcooked Broccoli Rabe Posted on 25 November 2016 at 09:32 "I'm not a big fan of broccoli rabe," Vicky told me when I brought some into the office to sauté for this classic Italian side dish. "The versions you're eating probably aren't overcooked enough," I said. This is something I learned many years ago when I was working in a Tuscan restaurant in New York City. We'd sauté the broccoli rabe in olive oil with garlic and chili flakes, and on busy nights, we'd get really big pans of it going to keep up with the demand. I'd sometimes sneak tastes, and I realized that the longer the rabe sat in the pan, getting heated and reheated with each wave of orders that came in, the better it got, its bitter flavor mellowing and its sometimes-fibrous stalks completely yielding to softness. All the rabe we served was great, but the customers who got plates from the last bits out of each skillet were extra lucky. We tend to have a thing against overcooking vegetables in American cuisine today (after decades of severely overcooking everything, to the point of mush), but, as the Italian kitchen has taught me over and over, there really is a place for overcooked vegetables at the table, at least sometimes. And this preparation of broccoli rabe is one great example.*
