Brown Butter, Sausage & Sage Orecchiette Pasta
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
16 ounces Orecchiette pasta
1 Tablespoon olive oil
16 ounces hot Italian sausage, meat removed from casings
6 Tablespoons Zeal Creamery Salted Butter
½ cup fresh sage leaves
¾ cup Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated plus more for topping
½ teaspoon flake salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta to boiling water, and cook until al dente according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
Meanwhile, cook the sausage: To a sauté pan or skillet large enough to hold all the pasta, warm the olive oil over medium-high heat.
Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite-sized pieces as it cooks. Cook until browned and cooked-through, 5-7 minutes. Transfer sausage to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
Place pan back onto the stove. Turn heat to medium, and add butter and sage. Cook until butter turns nut-brown and sage shrivels, 4-5 minutes, then turn heat to low.
Add pasta to the butter-sage mixture. Increase heat to medium. Add ¾ cup of the pasta water, and stir to combine. Continue to stir and cook until almost all of the water is absorbed, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan as it cooks.
Stir in the cooked sausage, Parmesan cheese, flake salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. (Note: If the sauce seems a bit dry, you can add pasta water as needed).
Taste, and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with more Parmesan cheese, if desired.