Orecchiette with sausage and spinach
Orecchiette with sausage and spinach
This is my second favourite way to eat orecchiette, after the broccolini and anchovy recipe, which you can find here. It’s very quick to make, especially if you use store-bought orecchiette. You can use any kind of leafy green in place of the spinach. Rapini or broccoli rabe is more traditional, but it’s hard to find in London. Make sure you buy good quality sausages and add fennel if they’re not already flavoured - it gives it such a great flavour! This is my go-to comfort food dish.
Serves 2
Ingredients
200g orecchiette (dried or follow this post for how to make your own fresh orecchiette)
3 Italian pork sausages (or regular pork sausages mixed with 1 tsp crushed fennel seeds)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Large pinch chilli flakes
300g spinach (or another leafy green such as chard, cavolo nero, or kale)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Cook the orecchiette in boiling salted water until al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, take the sausage meat out of its casings. Break it into chunks and fry in a pan with a couple tbsp olive oil until browned and cooked through.
Add the crushed garlic to the pan, along with the chilli flakes and spinach. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain the cooked orecchiette, reserving some of the pasta water.
Add the pasta to the sausage mix, along with about 1/2 cup of pasta water and most of the parmesan cheese. Stir until emulsified, adding more pasta water if it’s too dry.
Serve in bowls topped with the extra parmesan and some freshly cracked black pepper.
