Orecchiette with Sausage, Mushrooms, Pine Nuts & Greens
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This is a great dish to make any time of the year, and any day of the week. I like making it towards the end of the week because it's my way to use up all the greens in my fridge before they go bad. I like to use baby kale, arugula, spinach, or any combination. You could also make it with chard, broccoli rabe, or any other leafy green you have hanging around that's looking a little sad or past its prime.
I use Italian pork sausage for this dish (a combo of sweet and spicy), however you could absolutely use chicken sausage, a meatless sausage, or skip sausage all together to keep it vegetarian (I'd add another 8 oz of mushrooms if so). Italian sausage tends to give the dish a lot of extra flavor because of the seasonings in it. Sausage is another freezer staple of mine - bulk sausage or links keep for months in the freezer and defrost very quickly. I usually take out the amount I want to cook with, put it in a ziplock bag, and sit the bag of sausage in a bowl of luke warm water 30 minutes or so before I want to cook.
I also use olives in this dish, which I find bring a great saltiness and brininess to the pasta. If olives aren't your thing, you can totally skip them - but I'd encourage you to give it a try! The other key ingredient here is toasted pine nuts. They add a little crunch and an amazing earthy, nutty flavor to the pasta. Again, you could skip if you want, but they are worth trying!
You'll start by cooking the sausage in a large pan, big enough to hold all the other ingredients and the cooked pasta (you could even use a dutch oven). Once the sausage is mostly cooked through you'll add red onion, mushrooms, olives, and then the greens to wilt. Once the sausage is mostly cooked, you'll start to boil your pasta to al dente. After the pasta is done cooking, you'll transfer it to the pan or pot with the sausage and veggies, Toss with a little extra of the pasta cooking water, and serve with more greens on top and grated pecorino or parmesan. It's seriously so easy, and so delicious.
I like to use orecchiette for this dish, but you could sub any kind of pasta, even gluten free pasta! It's also dairy free if you skip the cheese to serve. Enjoy!