Orecchiette and Sausage

This is a great meal for keeping the kitchen cleaned up - it only takes one pan!!!  I always like to add just a bit more broth so it's more like soup.  Great with slices of garlic bread and a nice white wine!! If you can't find orechiette (little ears), any small pasta, like shells, will do.

Orecchiette Pasta and Sausage

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 onion sliced
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 red pepper, diced
S/P
1 lb spicy Italian sausage
6-7 cup chicken broth, as needed
3 c orecchiete pasta
1 cup chopped arugula (or spinach or combination)
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese


Procedure:

Saute onion, S/P and red pepper 5-7 minutes until onion is golden.  Throw in the garlic for the last minute of sauteing.

Stir in the sausage (remove from casings if you bought links) and saute, stirring until the sausage is broken up and browned - about 7 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 c chicken broth to mixture and scrape up the bits that have stuck to the pan.  Add the pasta and cook, adding more broth as needed, until the pasta is cooked through and most of the broth is absorbed - takes about 12-15 minutes.

Stir the arugula/spinach in and stir until the leaves wilt.  Ladle the pasta into bowls to serve and top with a good sprinkling of the Parm.

This week's recipe detective was GSDMom!