Pasta with Broccoletti, Red Onion, Sausage and Cherry Tomatoes

Today I am making an easy pasta, perfect for any weekday night when everyone is in a rush! I am using broccoletti, a vegetable very similar to broccoli, but smaller and very sweet. Broccoletti is a hybrid vegetable between broccoli and gai lan or Asian broccoli. To me, the stem resembles the taste of green asparagus while the florets have broccoli notes. It is really tender and cooks very fast. You probably did not grow up eating broccoletti, the reason being it is a new vegetable that has been in the market since the 90s. Nowadays you can find broccoletti in every grocery store in the US.

Tips: Always cook your pasta al dente and reserve some of the pasta boiling water in case you need to add it to your sauce.
You can substitute cherry tomatoes for sun dried tomatoes. You can substitute broccoletti for broccoli.
If you buy sausages, cut and discard the casing; you will only need the meat for this recipe.

PASTA WITH BROCCOLETTI, RED ONION, SAUSAGE AND CHERRY TOMATOES

Serves 5

1lb  spaghetti or other pasta
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1lb broccoletti (washed and chopped into bite-size pieces)
1lb Italian sausage meat
1 red onion (sliced)
15-20 cherry tomatoes
salt and pepper

Ingredients

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In the meantime prepare the sauce. Heat a large deep pan over high heat and add olive oil and Italian sausage. Sauté the sausage meat breaking up with a spoon until browned (about 4 minutes). Reduce heat to medium and add the onions and broccoletti. Sauté stirring occasionally for about 3-4 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Boil the pasta until al dente according to package instructions and reserve 1/2 cup of starchy boiling water. Drain and do not rinse.

Toss the pasta in the sauce and add the 1/4 cup of reserved water and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately!

Enjoy!