Orecchiette con broccoli e salsiccia

by -B-WTHHYBL

7 Comments

  1. -B-WTHHYBL

    Recipe as close as I can get it lol

    500 g or 1lb (1 package) Orecchiette

    Salted water to boil pasta and remember to reserve some pasta water for the “sauce”

    Extra Virgin olive oil

    400-500 g/1 pound Italian sausage (I use the links so its about 4-5 links remove casings) You can use sweet/mild/hot – I use hot usually I like spicy

    2-3 heads of broccoli (about 300-400g)

    2-3 cloves garlic sliced fairly thin you can add more or less to your taste

    Optional is 2-3 calabrian chile peppers or pinch of red pepper flakes – I like spicy so I use the peppers especially if I don’t have spicy sausage – neither is necessary

    Bring large pot of salted water to boil once boiling add broccoli and cook until tender

    Remove sausage casings if needed and cook sausage in a large skillet, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks I like to get a good sear on a lot of it for texture

    once broccoli is done, remove from water and set aside, add the orecchiette to the same water and cook until al dente don’t overcook!

    once sausage is cooked through and browned, lower heat and add the garlic (and chiles if you are using) and cook until fragrant and tender for 2 minutes then remove the chiles

    add a little bit of pasta water to the sausage and garlic not too much maybe half a coffee mug and stir to kind of deglaze the pan

    add the broccoli to the sausage and kind of break it down a little bit with a wooden spoon don’t smash all of it just gently break some of it down

    add pasta to the broccoli and sausage and mix everything up really well, you can add more pasta water if needed for a creamier texture

    my family likes to drizzle olive oil on top and a squeeze of lemon but these are both optional too.

    if you salt the water well enough you shouldn’t need to add salt but if you need salt you can add that as well

    some like to top with cheese it is not my preference but also an idea

    It’s a really easy quick recipe and good for weekday dinner you can have it done in 20/30 minutes or so