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One Pan Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Kale

One Pan Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Kale

I’ve been seeing “one pan” pasta dishes all over food blogs for a long while now, and to be honest, I am not sure why I resisted making it before. I liked the idea of the dry pasta cooking in the broth with the sausage, onions, garlic, and spices instead of just salted water. Cooking pasta like this is more hands-on than regular pasta cooking but it was fun for me and reminded me of making risotto. This orecchiette with Italian sausage and kale had a great depth of flavor for a dish with so few ingredients. I loved that it was a simple recipe to make but not boring. My family loved this pasta and my husband enjoyed the leftovers for lunch today. This pasta paired very nicely with a loaf of crusty baked bread and the Roasted Beet Salad with Spinach, Feta, and Toasted Pecans.

One Pan Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Kale

How to Make One-Pan Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Kale

Pour the chicken broth in a small saucepan over low heat to warm through.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally until it is soft and golden, about 5-6 minutes. Stir sausage into the onions along with the basil, oregano, crushed fennel seed, and crushed red pepper flakes; cook and stir until sausage is broken up and just browned, about 3-4 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. 

Pour 1 ½ cups of warm chicken broth into the sausage mixture and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan. Add the orecchiette pasta; cook and stir pasta in the hot broth, adding remaining broth when liquid is absorbed, until pasta is cooked through and most of the broth is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Taste and season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, if needed.

Stir kale into sausage mixture until it wilts, about 1-2 minutes. Ladle pasta into bowls and top with shaved Parmesan. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

One Pan Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Kale

 

One Pan Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Kale

 

Yield: 4-5  

Total Time: 25 minutes +/-

Ingredients:

4 cups (+/-) chicken broth, warmed
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
1 lb mild ground Italian sausage
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
Pinch (or two) crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ½ cups orecchiette pasta
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
2 ½ cups kale, chopped
Parmesan, shaved

Directions:

Pour the chicken broth in a small saucepan over low heat to warm through.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally until it is soft and golden, about 5-6 minutes. Stir sausage into the onions along with the basil, oregano, crushed fennel seed, and crushed red pepper flakes; cook and stir until sausage is broken up and just browned, about 3-4 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. 

Pour 1 ½ cups of warm chicken broth into the sausage mixture and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan. Add the orecchiette pasta; cook and stir pasta in the hot broth, adding remaining broth when liquid is absorbed, until pasta is cooked through and most of the broth is absorbed, about 15 minutes, making sure to break up any orecchiette that are stuck together. Taste and season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, if needed.

Stir kale into sausage mixture until it wilts, about 1-2 minutes. Ladle pasta into bowls and top with shaved Parmesan. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net

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14 Comments

  1. Love the shape of orecchiette! And I love it when it’s combined with dark greens (kale is perfect) and sausage. I’ve been resisting the one-pan movement too, and I don’t know why. I need to get with the program! This looks wonderful — thanks.

  2. I like cooking the ve3ggies with the pasta for pasta primavera. I never thought of adding the sausage; this dish looks wonderful, Pam!