Orecchiette Pasta with Sausage and Parmesan

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I love pasta.  Who doesn’t right?  It can be used in anything from a side dish or become a star in a main course.  I tend to skip the more traditional pasta in red sauce dishes though and look for ones that get most of their flavor from simple ingredients.  When I made orecchiette pasta with sausage and Parmesan, the freshness of the ingredients were where the dish got almost all of the flavor.  Yummy!

Orecchiette means small ear (from orecchio {ear} and etoo {small}) and, if you look at the pasta, it does resemble a little ear. If you can’t find orecchiette pasta, a shell shaped pasta will fill in fine.
What You’ll Need:
1 box (16 oz) of orecchiette pasta
1 lb of ground Italian sausage
5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 cup of chopped broccolini
salt
fresh ground black pepper
fresh parmesan cheese

Let’s Make It:
1)  Heat a large pot of water over high heat and bring to boil.  Generously salt the water {salty as the sea} and cook the pasta according to directions on the box.  Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water.

2)  In a large skillet, brown the Italian sausage, breaking up with a spoon while it cooks.  Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Do not drain the sausage drippings.

3)  In the same skillet, saute the garlic slices over medium heat until lightly browned.  Remove from skillet and set aside with sausage.

4)  Add broccolini to the pan and saute for 5 minutes over medium heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add pasta, reserved pasta water, sausage and garlic to the pan and cook for 5 minutes.  Transfer to serving bowl and top with shaved Parmesan and fresh ground black pepper.
As you can tell, this recipe is super simple but relies on fresh ingredients to give it flavor.  So, it is really important to use a good quality Parmesan {no green can}.

What is your favorite pasta recipe?  Do you prefer a lot of sauce or more simple dishes?

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Orecchiette Pasta with Sausage and Parmesan

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Ingredients

• 1 box 16 oz of orecchiette pasta
• 1 lb of ground Italian sausage
• 5 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
• 1 cup of chopped broccolini
• salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• fresh parmesan cheese

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Instructions

• Heat a large pot of water over high heat and bring to boil. Generously salt the water {salty as the sea} and cook pasta according to directions on the box. Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water.
• In a large skillet, brown the Italian sausage, breaking up with a spoon while it cooks. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Do not drain the sausage drippings.
• In the same skillet, sauté the garlic slices over medium heat until lightly browned. Remove from skillet and set aside with sausage.
• Add broccolini to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Add pasta, reserved pasta water, sausage and garlic to the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer to serving bowl and top with shaved parmesan.

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