Pasta With Kale, Shiitake Mushrooms and Sausage

- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1bunch black kale, washed, ribs removed
- 4Italian sausages (mild or hot)
- ½pound shiitakes (or brown mushrooms), washed, thinly sliced
- 4garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
- 4shallots, peeled, finely chopped
- 1tablespoon olive oil
- 2cups chicken stock or pasta water
- 1tablespoon sweet butter
- Sea salt and pepper
- ½cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
- 1box pasta (spaghetti, ziti, penne, or fusili)
- 1tablespoon kosher salt for the pasta
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the pasta in boiling salted water, drain (reserve 2 cups of the pasta water if you’re making the vegetarian version), drizzle with olive oil, season with sea salt and black pepper, toss and set aside.
- Step 2
Sauté with olive oil or grill the sausages to put a crust on the outside, drain on a paper towel, cut into ¼-inch rounds, then set aside. In a hot pan lightly brown the kale with the olive oil and remove. Add the shiitakes, shallots, and garlic, and sauté until lightly browned. Turn down the heat to medium. Return the kale to the pan along with the sausages, stock, and butter. Braise for 15 minutes. The liquid should reduce by half.
- Step 3
Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and pepper. Add the cooked pasta, toss to coat with the sauce. Serve with grated cheese.
Private Notes
Comments
Definitely do step 2 first...then cook the pasta...already cooked pasta just sitting around for more than a few minutes gets uneatable quite fast...the ingredients definitely want short pasta, penne, rigatoni, farfalle and not spaghetti which calls for a delicate sauce without pieces of escarole and sausage. I would definitely add peperoncino. And leave out the butter and cheese.
Pasta is never cooked and set aside. Never, Never, Never!
Once again, I'm seeing "recipes" for dishes I grew up with that just used up what was in the fridge. While I usually don't have kale on hand, I always have spinach or escarole or broccoli rabe. Try adding a pinch of red pepper. It's one of the most satisfying pasta dishes around and you will find yourself gravitating to it as the week nights go by.
For so few ingredients, I was so pleasantly surprised by how delicious this turned out. I substituted spinach for the Kale because I wanted to reduce the time to prepare. I included the spinach in the sauce at the end of the braising step. I seasoned with pepper but not salt because the butter I used was salted. The sauce tasted so good - I felt no salt was needed. (I usually salt everything). I used bulk Italian sausage instead of slices. I also deglazed the pan with a dry white wine after the mushroom mixture was finished cooking. So for anyone reviewing this recipe and wondering if it could possibly be worth the effort, feel rest assured that this is really a very good pasta dish. I will definitely make it again.
This is the most delicious pasta dish I have ever made. Some notes about how I made it: 1. After par cooking the sausage, I deglazed the pan using a dry rose wine. 2. I used 3 cups chicken stock instead of 2, and braised the mixture for around 25 minutes (I let the sauce get to about 1/3rd, which was the proper thickness. 3. I waited to cook the pasta (I used fresh linguini) until about 5 minutes before braising was done. I cooked it to barely al dente. I tossed it with a calabrian chile oil.
Skipped the sausage but only because I thought we had some and we didn’t. Cooked as instructed otherwise. Husband said it was my best pasta ever and I agree! Used a mix of chicken stock and pasta water. Let the pasta sit and it was fine.
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