Hey, um...you're saving your parmesan rinds, right?

Just checking.... plus a new pasta recipe to start using them right away 🌞

Nov 09, 2022

Happy Wednesday! You may be asking yourself, “just what exactly prompted this newsletter about parmesan rinds?” Well, I posted a poll recently on my Instagram about saving parm rinds, and nearly 40% of the responses said they didn’t know they were supposed to save them. In case those numbers are similar for my Substack subscribers, I considered it my duty to get the message out ASAP, especially ahead of the big holiday cooking season.

Many of you may already be hip to the idea of saving rinds, but for those of you who aren’t, here’s your official PSA: bag ‘em, date ‘em, freeze ‘em. They’ll last up to 18 months in the freezer, and if you’re like me, you’ll go through them faster than you can freeze them. So now you might be asking, “Okay, I’ve bagged ‘em, I’ve dated ‘em, I’m frozen ‘em….now what?”

How to use parmesan rinds:

Have you ever made a soup or pasta sauce and wished it just had a little something-something extra? That’s where parmesan rinds come in. Throw them in with a sauce, a soup, a stew, or stock and they’ll melt (not disintegrate!) releasing just a little extra cheesy, salty flavor into your dish. After the rinds are soft and gooey, their work is done and you can simply toss in the trash knowing that you made the most of them!

Rinds are perfect for tomato or cream-based sauces. Some people swear by leaving them in the sauce overnight, but I find a good 45 minutes and even up to 2 hours is really where you get the most from the rind. Anything past that gives diminishing returns.

How else can you use the parmesan rinds? Here are a few ideas:

Stock: Throw it in with your veggies and let it simmer! Your homemade stock has never been richer.
Risotto: Add a rind halfway through cooking the rice and let it melt into the rice as you ladle in the liquid. It’ll make your risotto even more luxurious.
Soups & Stews: Minestrone, pasta e fagiole, Italian wedding soup, chicken cacciatore…all of them will benefit from the little oomph a parmesan rind adds.
Broth: Make a light parmesan broth and ladle it over cooked tortellini or ravioli.
Infused Olive Oil: If you have a lot of rinds, add them to an airtight jar or bottle and pour some good quality extra virgin olive oil on top. Give it a few days to infuse and then store in a cool, dark place. Enjoy that rich oil on salads or as a finishing oil for pasta!

PS: Try a rind in your next batch of Thanksgiving turkey gravy…just saying.

Now that you have some ideas, how about a recipe? Specifically, a creamy, spicy orecchiette, sausage, and broccoli rabe with a parmesan rind lending some gorgeous salty, umami to the sauce as it simmers. Want to make it? The recipe follows the photo! 👇

Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe:

Cook time: 1 hour 25 minutes (30 minutes inactive)

Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 pound hot Italian sausage, loose
1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced into half-moons
Pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon butter
4 cloves confit garlic, or use 4 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon Piment d’Ville, or Piment d’Espelette or smoked paprika
Crushed red pepper to taste
3 cups water or vegetable stock
1 parmesan rind
½ cup heavy cream
½ lemon, juiced
16 ounces orecchiette
1 bunch broccoli rabe, trimmed and roughly chopped
½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh minced parsley, grated parmesan, and extra virgin olive oil, for garnish

Instructions

Brown the sausage:

Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a wide pot over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the sausage and cook, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks for 12–15 minutes or until completely cooked through. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Cook the onion:

Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in the same pot and turn the heat to medium. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15–20 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed to prevent the onion from burning. Once the onion begins to deepen in color, add a pinch of sugar and continue cooking until completely soft and golden brown, 5–10 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper.
Melt the butter into the onion. Add the confit garlic, piment d’Espelette, and crushed red pepper. Cook for 1 minute, mashing the garlic into the onion as it cooks. Return the cooked sausage to the pot.

Simmer the sauce:

Pour in the water and bring to a boil. Add the parmesan rind and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until the sauce reduces and begins to thicken. Adjust heat as needed if the sauce reduces too quickly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Discard the parmesan rind.
Pour in the heavy cream and turn the heat to medium. Let the cream bubble and thicken for 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and season once more with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low.

Cook the pasta and broccoli rabe:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a generous amount of salt. About 10 minutes before the sauce finishes cooking, add the orecchiette to the water. 2 minutes before the orecchiette finishes cooking, add the broccoli rabe to the pot of boiling water. After 2 minutes, drain the pasta and broccoli rabe.

Finish the pasta:

Add the cooked pasta, broccoli rabe, and grated parmesan cheese to the sauce; toss to coat. Taste and season once more.

To serve:

Divide the cooked pasta between shallow bowls. Garnish with minced parsley, more parmesan, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil if you like. Enjoy!