Usually when I’m making up my menu for the weekend I have to go to the store and get quite a few ingredients. Not for this recipe!! I had some fresh kale in the fridge (my new-found love). I had sausage, home-made pasta, and home-made chicken stock in the freezer so I was good to go! Not only was this easy and fairly quick .. but it was incredibly good. Sometimes recipes with the simplest of ingredients turn out surprisingly full of flavor. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 lb turkey or pork sausage, casings discarded and sausage crumbled
3/4 lb kale, tough stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
1 lb bowtie pasta, or pasta of your choice
3/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
zest of 1 lemon
1 oz finely grated Pecorino Romano (1/2 cup) plus additional for serving
Preparation:
Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, add chopped garlic, then cook sausage, breaking up any lumps with a spoon, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, blanch kale in a 6-quart pot of boiling salted water , uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove kale with a large sieve and drain. Return cooking water in pot to a boil, then cook pasta in boiling water, uncovered, until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander.
While pasta cooks, add kale to sausage in skillet and sauté, stirring frequently, until just tender, about 5 minutes. Add hot pepper flakes, and broth, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of skillet, then add pasta and 1/2 cup reserved cooking water to skillet, tossing until combined. Stir in cheese and lemon zest and thin with additional cooking water if desired.
Serve immediately, with additional cheese on the side.
Pasta Princess and More 