Orecchiette with Sausage & Rapini

Italian sausage combined with bright rapini, and tossed with orecchiette (which means “little ears” in Italian) is a classic Italian pasta dish! Tasty, hearty and good-for-you, make this pasta dish in the cooler months when rapini is in season.

Orecchiette with Sausage & Rapini

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Orecchiette with Sausage & Rapini

Prep Time

10 min

Total Time

30 min

Serves

4 people

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Ingredients

1x large bunch rapini (broccoli rabe), stalks trimmed and quartered

450-500 g dried orecchiette pasta

3 tbsp olive oil

500-600g Massimo’s Italian sausage (removed from the casing)

3x garlic cloves

Optional: ¼-½ tsp chili flakes

½ cup parmesan cheese

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp salt plus more to taste

1 cup reserved pasta water

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add the chopped rapini and cook 1-2 minutes until crisp tender. Remove the rapini from the water and drain. Set aside.
Cook orecchiette pasta in the same salted water to al dente and reserve 1 cup pasta water. Then drain pasta and set aside.
In a large skillet or pot, heat 3 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Once warm, add sausage (that’s been removed from the casing) and cook for 8-10 minutes or until cooked through, breaking into smaller pieces as it cooks.
Add minced garlic and chili flakes (if desired) and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute.
Then, stir in rapini with a pinch of pepper, 1/2 tsp salt and toss to combine. Cook for a few minutes.
Finally, stir in the cooked orecchiette pasta and ½ cup of pasta water. Stir and then add in the ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese. Cook for 1 minute, stirring to combine and then remove from the heat. If desired, add more pasta water to achieve your desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings with more salt and pepper. Serve with more grated parmesan cheese if you prefer.