Kale and Sausage Pasta with Simple Red Sauce

As usual, I got a few great new cookbooks for Christmas this year.  Resolving to try a few new recipes each week, I decided to make Ina Garten’s Orecchiete with Broccoli Rabe and Italian Sausage  (from Barefoot Contessa: Foolproof) for dinner the other night. Fortunately and unfortunately, I didn’t have everything I needed to copy her recipe verbatim so I subbed a few ingredients out for a few things I had on hand.  The result was perfectly delicious. We’ll be making this one again for sure.

Ina-Inspired Sausage and Kale Pasta

1 Box of Pasta (orecchiete if you have it, anything else if you don’t- we used bow ties)

1 large head of Kale, veins removed, chopped

6 links of sweet italian sausage

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes in their juice (I used the kind with basil)

3 tablespoons of tomato paste

1/2 cup marsala wine (Ina’s calls for red wine but we didn’t -and rarely do- have any on hand)

4 garlic cloves, chopped

olive oil

salt and pepper (red pepper flakes too if you like heat)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prick sausages all over with a fork and bake in the oven for 15 minutes turning once until just cooked through.

3. While sausage is cooking, boil pasta 5 minutes less than package instructions.  Add kale to the boiling pasta for last five minutes of cooking time.  Drain kale and pasta all together.

3. Slice sausage into 1 inch pieces and saute in a medium-hot skillet until nice and brown. Remove to a plate.

4. In same skillet, add a few Tablespoons olive oil and chopped garlic. Saute until fragrant.

5.  Add tomatoes and their juice and stir in marsala.  Add tomato paste, salt and pepper and bring sauce to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add sausage, kale, and pasta. Cook for two more minutes.

6.  Serve with mozzarella or parmesan cheese, garlic bread, and a green salad.

Voila! Quick and easy take on plain ol’ pasta with red sauce.  The kale tastes amazing- keeps a nice bite in this dish.  Plus it packs a huge nutrient punch so you are getting a great green into a traditionally carb loaded meal. Not that any of my meals AREN’T carb loaded- but oh well! It’s delicious.  Ina’s recipe is great too if you can find the broccoli rab and happen to have a good red wine handy 😉