Broccoli Sausage Pasta

This is one of my favourite fast and easy dinners. It's not that much prep time, a very short cooking time, and tastes delicious! It's like being Rachel Ray but without being annoying (yumm-o!).

What You'll Need

1 large broccoli

1 pkg spicy italian sausage (~400g)

300g pasta of your choice (Large shells or penne work well)

8 mini bocconcini

Olive oil

Assorted spices

How to Make It

I start by breaking the broccoli down into florets. Small florets. If it's not bite sized it will be very annoying. I boil them for 6 minutes in salted water, then blanch them really quickly so they don't over cook. If you like crunchier broccoli 3-4min will probably be enough. Set the broccoli aside, but don't throw out the cooking water!!

Cut the sausage out of it's casings so it's ready to go. While you're at it, quarter the bocconcini too. From here out it moves pretty quickly. I flavored the bocconcini with some olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. By itself it can be a little bland and bitter.

Heat up a pan to med-high heat and throw in the sausage. Try to break it up into pieces as you go. For a bit of extra flavor and spice we added a dash of worchestershire sauce and tabasco (for more spice, add more tobasco or red chili flakes).

In your now slightly broccoli-flavoured water which should still be at a rolling boil, throw the pasta in for 8 minutes. If you start the sausage at the same time, they should be ready together. When you're done cooking the pasta be sure to reserve about 1/2 to 1c cooking liquid.

So that's about it! All that's left is to combine everything in a pot or bowl and serve up! I like to add the sausage and cheese first so it all combines, and then the broccoli. It's good to alternate adding bits of sausage and cheese with some pasta water which will be absobed by the pasta and make a delicious sauce. For two people, there should be enough for a lunch the next day, and the longer this sits the better the flavour gets.

This is the finished (tasty) product!

Lastly, a few notes from doing this quite a few times;

It originally started out with broccoli rabe instead of just broccoli. It's good, but the broccoli rabe can be very bitter if it's not boiled long enough, and the longer it's boiled the softer it gets. A vicious circle. If you want to try it, maybe leave out the stalks and only use the leaves and florets which are pretty good.

It also originally had parmesan cheese. We switched it out with the bocconcini for a bit of colour and texture. However I really like the parmesan in it as well. If you opt for parmesan, grate maybe 1/4c or more if you like (I'd go for more) and throw it in at the end. It makes for a really nice smooth sauce.