Ingredients
The following ingredients have 4 Servings
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- 1 pound hot Italian or hot plant-based Italian-style sausage
- removed from casings
- 1 teaspoon fennel seed
- or ⅓ palmful (optional—if you use sweet sausage rather than hot
- the sausage may contain fennel seed)
- 1 large bunch broccolini (or 2 small bunches
- about ¾ - 1 pound)
- trimmed then chopped
- 1 red field (mild) or cubanelle (light green mild) pepper
- seeded and finely chopped
- 1 red or yellow onion
- finely chopped
- About ¾-1 cup semi-dried tomatoes
- drained and chopped (or sun-dried tomatoes
- soaked in hot water until soft
- then drained and chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic
- thinly sliced or crushed and chopped
- Salt
- 1 pound penne
- mezze rigatoni
- or orecchiette pasta
- ½ cup pickled Italian hot or sweet cherry peppers
- chopped
- Grated pecorino cheese
- about ½-¾ cup to toss and more to pass at table
Instruction
- Heat a large pot of water to a rolling boil for pasta
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, add the sausage or plant-based sausage and fennel seeds, brown and crumble, then move off to edges of pan, pooling drippings in center of pan
- Add the broccolini, peppers, onions and tomatoes, soften 3-5 minutes, stirring broccolini frequently, add garlic and stir all ingredients together
- Meanwhile, salt boiling water and drop pasta, undercook 1 minute from package directions and reserve ¾-1 cup of water before draining
- Add pasta water to sauce and let it absorb, then toss pasta with sauce, pickled peppers and grated cheese, toss for 1 minute
