Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli

My family loves a comforting and delicious pasta for dinner. What I love is a balanced meal with serving of protein and veggies. Today's recipe brings both to the dinner. A delicious weeknight dinner of flavorful sweet and spicy Italian Sausage Ragu with broccoli (steamed right into the sauce) and Orecchiette pasta. 

This pasta is an easy dinner that needs only 15 minutes of prep. Recipe also fits any schedule. Make Sausage Ragu on the weekend, add broccoli and cook pasta before serving for a super quick winter weeknight dinner. Also freezes well. (read on to know more)

Coming soon a short 1 minute video.

Italian Sausage with Broccoli and Pasta

Orecchiette with sausage with broccoli is such a classic flavor combination. I'm certain you have had combo of these ingredients in someway before? 

Italian Sausage is very flavorful spiced sausage. Few of my favorite herbs and spices such as fennel seeds, marjoram, parsley, and paprika, flavor this sausage. When sausage sautés in the skillet, the aroma of spices open up and fill the kitchen. A perfect sign that something delicious is cooking! 

Today's recipe is special as I made a sweet and spicy Italian Sausage Ragu sauce that is fortified with tomatoes, onion, garlic, sugar, anchovy paste and seasonings. These easy-to-find pantry ingredients add great depth of flavor to the sausage sauce. The addition of calcium-rich broccoli and Orecchiette pasta make it a complete. You will love the flavors!

Let's get cooking!

What Do You Need To Make Sausage Broccoli Pasta

There are three main parts to this pasta recipe:

1. Italian Sausage Ragu Pasta Sauce
2. Broccoli
3. Orecchiette Pasta

Italian Sausage Ragu (Pasta Sauce)

Italian Sausage Ragu is the heart of this pasta dish. For this recipe, I often use hot bulk Italian Sausage (chicken or pork).  Since Sausage is the star ingredient, I prefer to use best quality local-made organic sausage.

While I cooked for the recipe photos, I used Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage. Even though pork sausage or chicken both work great for this recipe. Chicken sausage is 1/3rd of the calories of pork sausage. All I'm saying is choose as per your diet needs. Whenever possible, go for a good quality sausage as that makes a lot difference in the flavor of ragu, and overall pasta.

Here's what you need to make the Sausage Ragu:

1. Italian Sausage
2. Anchovy Paste
3. Olive oil
4. Onion
5. Garlic
6. Red Wine
7. Tomato paste
8. Marinara - Tomato Sauce
9. Seasonings - salt, sugar, chili flakes and oregano.

I always make sure to slice and dice ingredients before staring to cook. These 10 minutes of prep save lot of trips to pantry and refrigerator. Plus it is a good way to know if you have all ingredients you need for the recipe. Once you have the ingredients ready, meal comes together quickly. 

Broccoli:

Broccoli or broccolini, both work well in this pasta. I break broccoli caps into small florets and cook (steam) with sausage sauce. The resulting broccoli is crisp-tender and perfectly seasoned. You can also use frozen broccoli for this recipe. Frozen broccoli will cook little faster. So add it to pasta sauce in last 2 minutes. Or boil it with pasta once pasta is cooked and ready to be drained (last 1 minute).

Orecchiette Pasta:

Orecchiette are small round pasta with little groove in the middle. These little grooves hold the pasta sauce very well, making every bite seasoned and flavorful. 

You can use fresh or dried orecchiette pasta for this recipe. If using frozen pasta (which cooks in 3-5 minutes), start cooking pasta while the sauce is simmering. Or cook pasta directly in the sauce. I recommend adding 1 cup extra liquid such as chicken stock in Step-5, add fresh pasta in last 5 minutes.

Here's how I make Sausage Pasta Sauce (Sausage Ragu); and then assemble Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli;

I start with boiling the pasta as per package directions. While pasta cooks, sauté sausage in oil, mashing it as it cooks. Sauté aromatics - onions until are soft, and garlic, tomato paste until paste darkens in color. Deglaze with wine. This is very important step. Let the wine liquid (alcohol) evaporate. This will give perfect wine flavor without any alcohol. 

Next I simmer sauce with marinara. For marinara, I recommend using your favorite tomato-basil sauce. I always have few jars of Rao's Tomato Basil Sauce. That's what I used for this recipe.

If you want to use tomatoes instead of tomato sauce, do two things:

1. Use canned crushed or pureed tomatoes; these melt quickly in the sauce.
2. Add /14 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp dried basil while simmering. Taste and adjust seasonings once ragu is ready.

I added broccoli to the sauce in last 3 minutes of cooking. This way broccoli picks up flavor from sauce and is crisp tender. That's it. Add cooked and drained orecchiette pasta to the sausage and broccoli wit grated parmesan cheese. Coat pasta in the sauce. 

Serve hot or bring to room temperature and freeze!

Make Ahead:

This pasta is easy to make ahead. 

To make ahead:

1. Cook Sausage Ragu.
2. Bring to room temperature. 
3. Add in sealable container. Refrigerate until ready to use.
4. On day of serving, cook pasta.
5. Heat sauce in a skillet until heated through. (3-4 minutes) Add broccoli florets on the top of sauce while reheating. Or cook broccoli with the pasta.
6. Assemble cooked pasta with sausage broccoli.
7. Top with parmesan cheese and serve.

NOTE: You can make Sausage Ragu Sauce up-to a week in advance.

To freeze:

1. Cook Sausage Ragu and Pasta.
2. Bring to room temperature. 
3. Portion and freeze.
4. On the day of serving, thaw and then reheat in microwave. Add fresh broccoli florets while repeating.

This Sausage and Broccoli Pasta is perfect for cozy chilly night dinner. Plus leftovers are great to pack for lunch.

Friends, try something different for dinner this week. Bring home good quality Italian Sausage, your favorite Tomato Basil Sauce and Orecchiette pasta. I bet you will find rest of the ingredients in your pantry. Make pasta dinner night comforting and delicious with a touch of healthy. A serving of protein, a serving of broccoli with everyone's favorite - pasta. 

Coming soon a short 1 minute video. (check back again)

Happy Cooking! -Savita x