Orecchiette with Broccoli, Tomatoes, and Sausage

Hey Friends,

Tonight I will be making something that sounds wayyyy more extravagant than it really is. The name is: Orecchiette with Broccoli, Tomatoes, and Sausage (picture of recipe below). Orecchiette is just a type of pasta, so once you get past that, it's basically the easiest thing ever. 

I've started with warming 1T of olive oil in a skillet and then adding 2T of minced garlic. The recipe actually calls for 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped, but all I had was minced garlic in a jar, so that is the substitution. After you can smell that garlic starting to cook, add Italian Sausage and cook it until no longer pink. Be prepared that if your husband walks in when you are at this stage, he will want to eat dinner right here and now...that's how good it smells!

Here's the part where you add a can of diced tomatoes and its juice to the skillet. Also, add a dusting of salt and pepper. Stir occassionally until most of the juice has evaporated and the sauce has thickened (about 10 minutes...we'll see!) 

The recipe says to start boiling your water for the pasta NOW, but I have learned that 4 quarts of water takes longer than just a couple minutes to boil, so I started boiling it at the very beginning...and low and behold, it still isn't boiling. So I'd recommend starting your water before anything else.

INTERMISSION: 
I just found my husband and son in the backyard raking leaves. This is what I saw when I stepped on the back porch! 

Okay, back to the recipe! My water still isn't boiling, so I am going to start cooking my broccoli. The recipe says to use 4 cups of small broccoli florets, but I am just using a steamable bag of broccoli to make it easier. Popping it in the microwave NOW!


My tomato sauce is finished and I'm still waiting for my water to boil, so I'm turning off the burner under the skillet so it doesn't overcook. After my pasta is done cooking, all I have to do is add the broccoli and then the tomato and sausage sauce to the pasta pot and the meal is finished! You can sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese on it immediately before serving if you like, but I didn't have any, so I decided not to.

The only thing that I would change about this recipe is the pasta to sauce/veggies ratio. There was way more pasta than the rest, so reducing the pasta from an entire 16oz box to 3/4 of the box I think would solve that problem...but it really is a matter of preference. Other than that it was delicious!! :)

Tips:
*Start water boiling first thing.
*Use whole wheat pasta to enhance nutritional value.
*Adding a little chopped onion in with the garlic would be fantastic.
*Serve with garlic bread.

 xoxo Katie