Health Orecchiette With Sausage, Broccoli Rabe, and Garlic

Last night, we had another yummy dinner with a new recipe. It is not as good as the one from the other night but it was pretty good. We tried something new by adding chicken sausage to the dish rather than ground turkey or chicken. The sausage had a lot of spice in it and definitely livened up dinner!

Here's the recipe -

Ingredients

• 1 (1-pound) box orecchiette
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 links Italian sausage (about 11 ounces) (We used chicken sausage)
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions in salted water; reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Add broccoli rabe during last 2 minutes of cooking; drain pasta and broccoli rabe and return to pot.
2. While pasta cooks, heat oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Pinch sausage from casing in 1-inch pieces and roll into balls with clean hands, placing meatballs directly in pot. Cook meatballs until browned and cooked through (8-10 minutes). Stir in garlic; cook until fragrant and toasted (2 minutes). Add pasta and broccoli rabe mixture, 1/4 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground pepper, and reserved pasta water; cook, tossing, until pasta is coated with a thin sauce (2 minutes). Divide among 6 bowls.