Description
A light pasta dish is filling and easy to throw together quickly. Use flavorful sausage, mild baby kale, pine nuts, and a high quality cheese.
Ingredients
Scale
- 8 ounces sausage
- 5 ounces kale
- 1 – 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (optional)
- kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound dried orecchiette pasta
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts (toasted)
- 1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano or grana padano cheese
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan, cook the sausage over medium low heat until just done. Remove from heat and cut into small pieces.
- In the same sauté pan, increase the heat to medium and add the kale. Cook until tender, then add the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 1 more minute. Add the cooked sausage and stir to combine. Season with the red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Turn off heat.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt until the pasta water is salty like sea water. Cook the pasta until just al dente – you want the pasta to have some firmness, not mushy. Reserve a cup of the pasta water, then drain.
- Add the cooked orecchiette to the sautéed kale and sausage. Stir to combine, adding a bit of the reserved pasta water if you prefer it a bit looser in texture. Stir in the pine nuts and grated cheese, and season to taste with ground pepper. Serve immediately.
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: Italian