I have made this dish several times and where I didn’t make anything new this week I want to share this with you again in hopes that you give it a try. It has great flavor and isn’t too difficult to make. The only thing that takes a little time is roasting the garlic but it’s all hands off so throw that part in the oven and start on all the other parts. You will be rewarded with a great meal that you can share with family and friends. Or have leftovers for the week. It tastes great tomorrow too.

You can use broccolini, broccoli rabe or broccoli. Keep in mind that Broccoli Rabe is a little more on the bitter side so if you have never used it before you might want to stick with the broccolini in my opinion!

There are a few steps and a few extra dishes to wash but enlist some help with the clean up and you should be all set. You do use a 1 pound box of pasta and the little shells see to work out best, the pesto tends to coat the pasta really well. It has a little texture from the almonds, and I like that you don’t have to peel them. Not that it’s hard to peel, you just boil them in hot water for like 30 seconds and the skin comes right off, but one less step works for me.

Roasted Garlic Pesto Pasta and Sausage

An easy meal using minimal ingredients but still full of flavor

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course dinner

Ingredients

1 head garlic
1 package broccolini broccoli rabe
⅓ cup olive oil
¼ cup almonds
pinch red pepper chili flakes
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
¾ pound Sweet Italian Sausage
1 pound package medium shells
Kosher Salt

Instructions

slice the garlic in half, width wise, place in a small piece of tin-foil and drizzle the cut side with a little olive oil. loosely wrap the head and place in a 400' oven for about 30-45 minutes. Once roasted let it cool before making the pesto.
Using a food processor pulse the almonds until they are just broken up. add the rest of the ingredients minus the oil and pulse to combined. while the blade is running drizzle in enough olive oil to make it a loose paste.
in a large pot fill with water; where you will be cooking your pasta and the broccolini. generously salt the water, once it starts bubbling put in your broccolini for about a minute or two. remove to a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process. drop your pasta and cook for 2 minutes less than the package indicates; you will be finishing off the cooking in the pan with the other ingredients.
in a large saute pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil once hot enough; just about to smoke; add the sausage and break it down with either a wooden spoon or a potato masher until browned. add about a 1/4 cup of the pasta water to the pan and stir, getting up all the browned bits in the bottom of the pan.
reserving some of the pasta water, drain your pasta and add it to the sausage pan. Add the pesto; toss to combine. Serve immediately with grated Parmesan.