Spicy Sausage and Kale Pasta
Spicy ground sausage, kale, and tomato tossed with linguine pasta in a creamy garlic and Parmesan wine sauce.
Servings: 5 servings
Calories: 784kcal
Cost: $3.10
Ingredients
- 1 lb hot Italian ground sausage
- 1 lb linguine pasta-cooked to al dente set aside a cup of pasta cooking water
- 1 head kale chopped and rinsed
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 medium tomatoes diced
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 cups chicken stock
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta to al dente (a minute or two under tender). Drain pasta, reserving a cup of pasta water (you may or may not use this at the end, if you prefer a thinner or thicker sauce).
- Remove kale from ribs (woody stems and veins), rinse clean and rough chop
- In a heavy skillet fry sausage until crispy; set aside.
- Drain grease but reserve a couple tablespoons in the pan.
- On medium high heat add minced garlic and tomato to pan; saute until garlic becomes fragrant and tomatoes become soft.
- Add white wine and stock to pan; simmer about 5 minutes until reduced.
- Add kale to pan and saute until leaves turn dark green and become soft. Reduce heat to low.
- Add the cooked pasta and fried sausage back to pan, toss to combine.
- Reduce heat to low. Add heavy cream and Parmesan; toss to coat pasta. Remove from heat and serve.
Notes
Al dente means the pasta has a slight chew to it. If you are using packaged pasta, refer to the cooking instructions and cook about two minutes SHORT of full cooking time. (Some packages will note what the al dente cooking time is.
When the sausage is done frying, you can drain it and set it aside and either reserve a bit of the grease in the pan for the garlic and tomato, or use a couple of tablespoons of butter instead of the grease.
If you want to "loosen" or thin the sauce out at the end, just add a bit of the starchy cooking water with the heavy cream for a lighter, thinner sauce. You'll scoop that out right before you drain the pasta and set it aside for the end when you can see how the sauce looks.
The tomatoes cook down to virtually nothing, and sort of become part of the sauce. If you prefer a chunkier tomato, add more diced tomatoes at the end when you add the sausage and pasta back to the pan.
Shred the Parmesan off the wedge, rather than pre-shredded Parmesan as it melts better.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 784kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 983mg | Potassium: 651mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1743IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 300mg | Iron: 3mg