This Sausage and Kale Orecchiette is a great weeknight meal. It uses just a few ingredients and can be made quickly. Great for kids, too!
By my rough calculations, my kids are 1/8 Italian. My grandmother on my mom’s side was off-the-boat Italian, and it has been diluted ever since. That means that my kids are guaranteed to eat at least 1/8 of any pasta dish I put in front of them, even if it has kale in it!
This Sausage and Kale Orecchiette is a great beginner pasta dish. It has just a few ingredients, with the pasta water itself playing a star role. (Yes!) It also comes together quickly and will make you feel like a cooking rockstar even on a tired Wednesday.
SUGGESTIONS AND SUBSTITUTIONS FOR THIS SKILLET PASTA
Orecchiette: I like this pasta shape for this dish. The “little ears” cook quickly and do a good job of holding onto the light sauce, but feel free to substitute farfalle, penne, or even orzo!
Sausage: I recommend using an Italian sausage, either sweet or hot, for this recipe. (I prefer sweet if I’m feeding it to my kids and hot if I’m not.) You can use bulk sausage or sausage in the casing. If you buy the sausage in the casing, remove it before cooking the sausage.
Greens: I really love kale in this dish (I like Tuscan), but Swiss chard would be a perfectly delicious substitute or even baby spinach in a pinch. If you can find a big bunch of kale, though, use it.
