How to Cook Orecchiette With Broccoli And Sausage

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients needed to make Orecchiette With Broccoli And Sausage:

• 3 cups whole wheat orecchiette
• 1 lb broccoli rabe, stemmed and leaves coarsely chopped
• 1 lb spicy Italian style pork sausage, peeled
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• Zest and juice of a lemon
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Dried breadcrumbs, for serving

Cooking instructions for Orecchiette With Broccoli And Sausage:

• Drizzle oil in a large skillet and wait it sizzles over moderately high heat.
• Throw in the sausage and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until they brown nicely, while crumbling the meat with the wooden spoon.
• Transfer it to a bowl and set aside.
• Toss the broccoli rabe chunks into the same skillet and sauté for a couple of minutes, or until it begins to wilt.
• Spoon it to the bowl with sausage and skim off any oil in the pan, leaving only a tbsp of oil in it.
• Throw in the garlic, along with a dash of red pepper flakes and stir fry them briskly for half a minute or until the garlic releases a pleasant aroma.
• Empty the cups of broth in it, along with the pasta and stir them all together to mix well.
• Continue to cook the mixture for about7-9 minutes, until bubbles start popping up in the cooking liquid.
• Return the broccoli-sausage mixture to the skillet and continue to simmer the mixture, for about 3 more minutes or until the pasta is cooked al dente and the broccoli soften further to indicate that it is cooked through.
• Turn off the heat and sprinkle a dash of salt and generous amount of ground pepper to season.
• Add a splash of lemon juice as well as the lemon zest and stir them all together until well combined.
• Fold in the grated cheese until distributed evenly throughout the mixture and spoon it into serving bowls.
• Finish it off with a sprinkling of breadcrumbs and serve warm.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons