savi.you

Here's a great recipe for those busy nights where you don't want to spend money on take out but don't have much time to cook. This is an all in one meal that takes no more than 20 minutes to cook. It's delicious AND nutritious!

Just brown, boil, sautee and toss everything together. Serve with a glass of red wine if you want to be a little fancy!


Ingredients...
1lb italian sausage
1lb fresh spinach
1lb penne, I used whole wheat
4 or 5 cloves of garlic...more = better
1/4 cup EVOO
1/4 cup pecorino romano
chili pepper flakes
kosher salt



Prep...
Remove casing from the sausage.
Rough chop garlic or slice thinly if you don't like biting into chunks of it.
Fill pot with water and turn on the heat.


Cook...
Brown the sausage over med to med-high heat, breaking it up as you go.
Once water reaches a rapid boil, add a palmful of salt. Toss in your pasta. Cook for 10 to 11 minutes depending on your liking.
Remove the sausage when all pink is gone and let it drain on some paper towels.


In the same pan you browned your sausage, pour in the EVOO. Sautee the garlic and chili flakes until fragrant...no more than 20-30 secs. DON'T let the garlic brown!


Toss in all of the spinach...it may look like a lot, but spinach will cook down to almost nothing.


The secret for this step is not over cooking the spinach. Sautee over med-high heat until the point where most of the leaves have barely wilted.

Remove from the heat and set the spinach aside. The pasta should have been almost done by now. Mix the sausage back in with the spinach.

When the pasta is finished, drain the water and reserve about a cup of the pasta water. Pour the sausage and spinach into the pasta pot along with the penne. Add the romano cheese on top.

Pour the pasta water in and toss everything together. Serve immediately, topped with additional cheese and chili flakes if you desire.


And the most important final step...ENJOY!