Pasta with broccoli rabe and sausage: 3 Long Island picks

Pasta with broccoli rabe and sausage, a popular dish at Long Island Italian restaurants, has its origins in Puglia, where it's generally made with orecchiette, or ear-shaped pasta.

In this part of the world, the pasta used is almost always short and stubby, the better to cradle the pieces of sausage and greens bathed in garlic and oil.

Here are three fine examples of the dish:

SACRAMONE'S RESTAURANT, East Meadow

While coal-oven pizza is an attraction at this gracious spot, the pastas rate highly, too. Try small shells with sausage and broccoli rabe; the greens are tender and not the least bit bitter.

2366 Hempstead Tpke.; 516-513-1919, sacramones.com

PROVA, Oceanside

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The restaurant formerly known as Cinelli's offers pasta Claudia -- fusilli bucati corti (short corkscrew pasta with a hole in the center) with broccoli rabe, sausage, sauteed cherry tomatoes and Italian goat cheese.

156 Davison Ave.; 516-678-9494, provany.com

EMILIO'S, Commack

At this popular Commack spot, fusilli Campagnola features fresh corkscrew pasta with tender broccoli rabe, spicy Italian sausage and sun-dried tomatoes in a roasted garlic and oil sauce.

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2201 Jericho Tpke.; 631-462-6267, emilios-restaurant.com