One Pan Sausage Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
One pan meals are a regular at my home - their convenience is unmatched. This week’s recipe comes together in under 20 minutes. A hearty pasta toss that somehow remains light enough for a warm summer night. Little ears of Orecchiette pasta are the perfect shape to cradle juicy morsels of sausage and Parmesan cheese. Tender stalks of broccoli rabe bring some crunch to the party, but can be subbed with anything you have on hand - kale, broccoli, spinach, or even peas. Technically, we do use 2 pans/pots for this dish (a pot to boil the pasta!), but we’ll just keep that to ourselves :)
What You Need (Serves 2):
1/2 box Barilla Orecchiette pasta
Italian sausage (I love New York Style Sausage Company brand. It comes in several forms - cased sausage, sausage rolls, uncased sausages. I tend to buy the sausage roll so that I can use as little or as much as I want and not have to deal with the casings.)
small bunch of broccoli rabe (baby broccoli), sub with kale, spinach, peas, broccoli
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon - juice and zest
What To Do:
Boil 1/2 box Orecchiette pasta according to package directions. Before draining, keep about 1 cup of pasta water.
In a large pan over medium-high heat, add sausage. Use a spatula to break up the sausage and cook until golden brown. Remove the sausage and place aside.
Clean and chop the broccoli rabe in half.
In the same pan, dump the broccoli rabe in, adding a splash of water. The water will deglaze the pan and also start to steam the veg. Cover for 1 minute. Uncover and add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan, sautéing the broccoli for another minute.
Add cooked sausage and pasta back to the pan, along with some pasta water. The pasta water will help to coat the pasta with a thin sauce. Add minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and season to taste.
Serve pasta with tons of Parmesan cheese and fresh lemon zest.
