Name: Orecchiette with Sausage
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 350 g orecchiette; 400 g Italian sausages; 1 tbsp olive oil; 3 cloves garlic, sliced; ½ tsp chilli flakes; 300 g broccoli florets; 50 g pecorino, grated; ½ tsp black pepper

Orecchiette with Sausage

Little ear-shaped pasta with crumbled Italian sausage, broccoli, garlic and chilli, finished with pecorino.

35 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

Before You Start

Break the sausage into small crumbs.

Boil the broccoli with the pasta.

Let some of the broccoli break up.

Keep some pasta water.

Making Orecchiette with Sausage

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Squeeze the sausage meat from the skins and brown in the oil in a wide pan for 8 minutes, breaking it into crumbs.
Add the garlic and chilli for 1 minute.
Boil the orecchiette for 12 minutes, adding the broccoli for the last 3 minutes. Drain, keeping a mugful of the water.
Tip the pasta and broccoli into the sausage and toss with a splash of the water and most of the pecorino for 1 minute.
Serve with the rest of the pecorino and the pepper.

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What's Going On Here

It looks like a plain bowl of pasta and eats like a stew, which is why the cupped shape matters. Orecchiette means little ears, and each one holds a bit of sausage and a bit of broccoli in the bowl of it.

Squeeze the sausage meat from its skins and brown it in a wide pan for 8 minutes, breaking it into small crumbs. Small crumbs fit into the pasta. Add the garlic and chilli for a minute. Cook the broccoli in the same pot as the pasta for the last 3 minutes, so it is soft enough to break up and become part of the sauce. Let some of the broccoli fall apart. It thickens the sauce and clings to the sausage.

Drain the pasta and broccoli, keeping a mugful of the water, and tip into the sausage pan. Toss with a splash of the water and most of the pecorino over a medium heat for a minute.

Serve with the remaining cheese and black pepper.

After You've Cooked It

Keeps in the fridge for 2 days. Reheat with a splash of water.

Common Substitutions & Variations

An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

What to Serve Alongside

Green salad
Crusty bread
Roasted tomatoes
Red wine

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Ciabatta, Citrus Fennel Salad, Focaccia Barese.