Campanelle with Broccolini and Sausage

"As long as there's pasta and Chinese food in the world, I'm okay"
~Michael Chang

Recently, I had a workday that was so busy I didn't get a chance to eat lunch.  Therefore, all afternoon I was starving and thinking about dinner.  I daydreamed of something healthy, fabulous and satisfying, yet quick and easy.  When I saw the great-looking broccolini in the produce section, I decided to do something with it and this is what I came up with.  It fit the bill PERFECTLY.  Broccolini is broccoli's milder cousin, and goes so nicely with the hot sausage.  It adds a perfect crunch to the chewy pasta and sausage.  I was inspired by the dish orechiette with broccoli rabe and sausage, and although you could use broccoli rabe, and I don't mind it, the Mister finds it bitter, so it's brocollini for us.  Barilla Campanelle is my favorite pasta and I always have several boxes around, so that was a no-brainer.

Now, usually I don't save pasta for leftovers, but this dish was too good to dispose of.  Since we only ate about half of it originally, two days later I heated the leftovers in a covered dish in the oven (yes, we are the only people on the planet without a microwave...on purpose!)  A few minutes before they were heated through, I warmed some heavy cream, then tossed the hot pasta with it and one-third cup of parmesan cheese.  Sort of dressed it up Alfredo style.  It was a twist from the previous meal and it was delicious.  Yeah baby...nom, nom, nom!

Campanelle with Broccolini and Hot Sausage


I pound hot Italian sausage
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced or run through a garlic press
1 pound fresh broccolini, chopped into 3-inch lengths
10 ounces Barilla Campenelle
1 cup white wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place raw sausages in a pan, prick with a fork and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and slice on the diagonal.  Cover with foil to keep warm.  Place a large pot of salted water on to boil.  Add pasta to rapidly boiling salted water.  Boil for 8 minutes, then add broccolini to boiling  pasta and cook together for the remaining 3 minutes.  While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add garlic, stirring for a minute, but do not let garlic brown (it will turn bitter).  Add wine to skillet and stir, allowing to reduce slightly while pasta finishes cooking.  Before draining pasta, save 1/2 cup of the pasta water and set aside.  Drain pasta/broccolini mixture and add to skillet with garlic, tossing as you go.  If you think it needs more liquid, you can add some of the pasta water that you reserved.  Toss pasta with 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, turn onto a serving platter and then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and salt and pepper.