Roasted Garlic Pesto Pasta and Sausage
An easy meal using minimal ingredients but still full of flavor
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.