ORECCHIETTE WITH SAUSAGE AND BROCCOLI RABE

ORECCHIETTE WITH SAUSAGE AND BROCCOLI RABE image

Categories Pasta

Number Of Ingredients 8

1 pound broccoli rabe
1 pound orecchiette
2 tablespoons olive oil (might need less depending on how fatty the sausage is)
2 to 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 pound Italian sausage (casing removed)
Salt
Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)
Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese

Steps:

Trim ends of broccoli rabe and peel stems if too thick. In a large pot of rapidly boiling, salted water, blanch the broccoli rabe until tender and cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain and rinse the broccoli rabe with cold water until cooled. Cook the pasta (in the same water as the broccoli rabe) according to package directions until al dente. Before you drain the pasta, reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid. While the pasta is cooking, place 2 tablespoons of olive oil into a cold skillet with garlic. Once garlic is slightly brown, and sausage. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sausage is cooked through. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Add broccoli rabe and reserved water into pan with sausage. Add a little water at a time until desired consistency is achieved (should have some liquid in the pan, but not be too watery). When the pasta is cooked, drain it and place back in pot you cooked it in and pour sausage and broccoli rabe over pasta. Add salt/red pepper to taste. Serve with grated pecorino Romano or parmesan cheese.