Orecchiette With Spicy Sausage

Wow, I set the bar high with this recipe right off the bat. Very delicious and filling. It was easy to prepare and cheap to buy at the store for dinner. Feeds two with leftovers for lunch the next day, or four people. I made this for Deryk and I last night and it was so good, he even snuck a few extra bites off my plate! It says it takes half an hour for prep and cook time, and I found that to be true, but be sure to start boiling your orecchiette pasta before you even start the rest of the meal (it takes 11 minutes to boil the pasta).


So one thing before I go on, while I was shopping for the ingredients, I was trying to figure out what the heck "spring onions" or "scallions" were. I asked the produce guy what it was and he said, "oh just use green onions." Apparently on the east coast people call green onions scallions and spring onions are basically the white part of green onions. Here is the Wikipedia definition of spring onions: "Scallions (also known as green onions, spring onions, salad onions, green shallots, onion sticks, long onions, baby onions,precious onions, yard onions, gibbons, or syboes), are the edible plants of various Allium species, all of which are "onion-like", having hollow green leaves and lacking a fully developed root bulb." Also, if you are wondering what cremini mushrooms are, they are baby portabellos. 

Instead of using chorizo, I substituted with sweet Italian chicken sausage, you can usually find something like this by all the hot dogs and sausages. I also added a little sweet chili sauce while cooking the meat and mushrooms. I wanted to have a salad with this dinner but I didn't want to prepare a whole other part, so I just added the pasta and meat to a 50/50 mix of greens and made a salad dinner out of it all. It was perfect! Most of the time, I've found that you can transform your meal into a salad by  just laying the main dish onto a bed of greens (keep in mind spinach is the healthiest for you as far as leafy greens go).

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 12 ounces orecchiette pasta
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 8 ounces fresh chorizo or other spicy sausage, casings removed
• 2 spring onions (white and light green parts only), thinly sliced, plus more for topping
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup grated pecorino or parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Directions

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook as the label directs. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until it begins to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the spring onions and cook until softened, about 3 more minutes. Add the garlic, mushrooms, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste; cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms start to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook until they soften slightly, about 3 more minutes.

Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta. Add the broth to the skillet and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in the pasta and cheese, adding some of the reserved cooking water to loosen, if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls, drizzle with olive oil and top with more cheese and spring onions.

Per serving: Calories 571; Fat 19 g (Saturated 6 g); Cholesterol 40 mg; Sodium 809 mg; Carbohydrate 73 g; Fiber 5 g; Protein 28 g