Guest Post: Orrechiette with Italian Sausage

This recipe was emailed to me by Lisa from The Kitchen of Queen La La she is a great cook and lovely blogging buddy, I first got hooked on her blog with her homemade pita LOL

We have been twittering and commenting on the chow and chatter facebook page and blogger for age's. She inspired me with this recipe for the first time I made gnocchi and I have been waiting for a picture to share with you all!

She actually made it with Orrechiette which I had to Google, they are a special ear shaped pasta from Northern Italy, she also added some crushed tomato, like I would do per Lisa!

So here's Lisa:

It is with great pleasure that I submit my recipe for Pasta with Broccoli Rabe. My original recipe was just fine as it was, humming along nicely, with no changes over the years; however, Rebecca made her own version and I blatantly lifted the idea of adding tomatoes to my dish and voila! a much better version was born. So, in the picture, you will see some lovely tomato along with the sausage and broccoli rabe and I am very pleased with the new, updated version. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do, and a big thank you to my blogging buddy, Rebecca, for letting me play a little in her world.

So here you go this one is a winner:

1. Clean and chop one pound of broccoli rabe into bite-sized pieces. Steam until tender and set aside.
2. Saute four finely chopped cloves of garlic in about 2 tbsp really good extra virgin olive oil.
3. To that add 1/2lb crumbled raw hot (or sweet) Italian sausage (just squeeze out from the casing). I really like turkey sausage for this but pork is fine, too.
4. Break up into small pieces and cook until no longer pink.
5. Add the broccoli rabe and cook for another 5 minutes or so, to really blend the flavors.
6. Toss with freshly cooked Orrechiette or gnocchii and top with grated parmagiano or pecorino romano cheese.

Depending on the sausage, you may need to add an additional tbsp or more of olive oil to the pan to make a nice, slippery consistency to coat the pasta. I can get by with an additional tbsp and have been able to toss this with a full pound of pasta, no problem.

As that serves 8 people, I don't think the additional oil poses any problem as 1) it's the really good stuff, and 2) half a tbsp or so per person is not at all a bad thing.

This recipe is great especially in the cooler weather, as the rich flavors play very well together. :-)

Enjoy.....

Has anyone else heard of this pasta it looks so cool, I am on the look out for it!

Love