This unique piquant twist on pesto is made with broccoli rabe and toasted pistachios and served with creamy chunks of fresh burrata cheese.

Mix up your dinner game with this fast and flavorful pesto-coated casarecce. No basil and pine nuts here: this beaut is made with earthy broccoli rabe and toasted pistachios. It may sound weird, but trust me, this recipe will quickly become one of your new weeknight staples!

This recipe was created in partnership with Delallo®, our go-to brand for authentic Italian flavor, including pastas, sauces, and specialty imports.

I’m of the opinion that if it’s green, it can probably be made into pesto.

I’ve done it with arugula and beet greens and kale and even garlic scapes.

Need further proof? Take broccoli rabe. And pistachios. Both green. And together they make for a fabulous homemade pesto.

Broccoli rabe, also called broccoli raab or rapini, somewhat resembles an extra leafy and leggy broccoli with very small, loose florets (although technically speaking, it’s more closely related to a turnip than anything). It has a flavor somewhere in between broccoli and turnip greens, slightly bitter and mildly earthy (but less so than say, beet greens).

If you can’t find it, you can use a mix of regular broccoli or broccolini and dark leafy greens such as turnip greens or kale.

Broccoli rabe can be quite bitter in its raw form (it tends to mellow as it cooks), so we’ve blanched it first to help remove some of that bitterness, before blending it into a piquant pesto along with pistachios, pecorino and parmesan cheeses, and even a splash of toasted pistachio oil for another layer of buttery richness.

Also helping to offset that bitterness? Chunks of rich, creamy burrata cheese scattered on top. (Seriously though, is there any pasta recipe out there that’s not improved by the addition of burrata? I think not.)

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