Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli

Make this now. It really reminds me of eating out in an Italian restaurant. You have creaminess from butter and pasta water and a bit of a heat from the red pepper flakes.

Ingredients

• 16 oz italian sausage (jimmy dean works!)
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb broccoli florets, cut up to bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup chicken broth (use better than bouillon)
• orecchiette pasta (my rule of thumb for pasta is 2.5 oz per person)
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• olive oil
• 3 tbsp butter
• ½ tsp salt*
• ½ cup pecorino romano cheese

Steps

1. bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a big pinch of salt to it, then add the orrechiette. cook until just shy of al dente
2. in a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat. add sausage into skillet, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned (around 5-6 minutes)
3. reduce heat to medium and add garlic (cook for 1 minute or until fragrant)
4. add 4 tbsp of olive oil, chicken broth, broccoli, salt*, and red pepper flakes. cook for about 3-4 minutes, scraping the fond from the bottom of the pan
5. stir in butter until melted and simmer for a few minutes to reduce
6. when pasta is ready, spoon it into the large skillet with all the other ingredients, add half the cheese, and fold everything together
7. taste and adjust seasoning
8. boomski.

Notes

• * if butter is salted, hold off on this and salt to taste
• when spooning pasta into your sausage/broccoli mix, it’s okay if you include some pasta water (it’ll only help with the silkiness)
• if your skillet isn’t large enough, you could put everything into a big bowl and mix things together there