PASTA WITH SAUSAGE, KALE, AND LEMON
I crave this dish at least once a week. It’s originally the product of weeknight desperation when we were low on ingredients. I started experimenting and came up with this. The beautiful thing about Italian sausage is that it’s so flavorful on its own that it doesn’t need to be paired with much else. I also love that this recipe can be adapted in a hundred ways and still be delicious. Sometimes I use baby spinach instead of kale, or a different kind of Italian sausage, or I add some pan-crisped garlicky breadcrumbs…the possibilities are endless!
Pasta with Sausage, Kale, and Lemon
serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 pkg fusili or rotini noodles
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed (use whatever kind you like; I like the chicken sicilian sausage from Trader Joe’s)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 large handfuls kale, ribs removed and torn in small pieces
- 1/3 c lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons), plus the zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 c finely grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
- 1/2 chopped fresh basil
Directions
- Boil and salt a pot of water. Add noodles and cook until slightly underdone.
- While noodles cook, heat another large saucepan over medium-high heat. If using chicken sausage, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom of the pan. Add sausage, and press it into the bottom of the pan. Allow to brown 1 minute, then sprinkle garlic on top and continue to brown. Using a wooden spatula, break sausage up into bite-size pieces.
- Before draining pasta, reserve 1 cup of the water you cooked the pasta in! (Don’t forget this step, it’s key!) When pasta is just underdone, add the drained noodles to the pot containing the sausage. Top with kale and stir to combine. Add lemon juice and zest and about 1/2 c of the reserved pasta water. Stir in the cheese, and add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Tasting as you go, add more pasta water until you have a silky sauce coating the noodles.
- Serve pasta in bowls, and top each serving with fresh basil and more grated cheese.
