Broccoli sausage cannellini bean pasta
Winning weeknight pasta
Oh pasta. I just love it so much. It perfectly exemplifies what I think a family meal is all about - a few honest ingredients simply prepared, best enjoyed right off the stove. Cooking and serving family meals is as much a part of the ritual as eating it together is. I like to cook pasta that’s interactive and quick - this recipe in particular is one of my weekly go-to’s.
The first time I made this, I was hooked. I’ve added my own flavour over time, and ended up here.
Tonight’s takes:
Husband: “Really, really good. Lots of broccoli, sausage is really good, the beans make it creamy. Like, really, really good.”
Helen (5 1/2 years old): “I like it. Good flavour. Really cheesy.”
Hector (3 years old): “This is awesome!”
Original recipe. Bon Appetit, November 2017
What I used:
2 small-ish heads of broccoli
2 Mediterranean lamb sausages
3 cloves garlic
1 398ml (14oz) can cannellini beans
1 500g bag casarecce pasta
1 tbsp butter
Approx. 1 cup loosely packed grated Parmesan cheese
What I did:
Two pot pasta method: The secret to making incredible pasta is finishing your pasta in its sauce. First time I did this = 🤯🤯🤯. The easiest way to execute this is to build your sauce alongside the pot you’re boiling the pasta in. So step number one is getting your stove setup. Put one large pot with water and lots of salt on your largest burner so you can keep a good boil. Put a second large pot (I use a large Le Creuset pot) beside it with lots of olive oil. Probably more than you think you should use. Make sure it coats the bottom of the pot.
So, what I did:
Turned salty pasta water pot on high - to get it boiling.
Turned pasta sauce pot on medium - to get the oil warmed up.
Prepped ingredients:
Chopped broccoli into small-ish pieces. Only kept the tops and small stems. Discarded the thick stem.
Sliced garlic.
Removed the sausage meat from the casing.
Opened can of beans - I don’t drain mine.
Grated Parmesan.
Once the water was boiling, threw pasta into the water.
Set timer for 2-minutes less than the package al dente directions - 9 minutes.
Started the sauce:
Sautéed the garlic and sausage meat until slightly browned - 4-to-5 minutes. Broke the sausage up into little bits.
Added broccoli, mixing it into the sausage and garlic.
Put the lid on the sauce pot for about 2 minutes - so the broccoli partly sautéed and partly steamed
Took the lid off and added the beans.
By now my pasta was about done. When the timer went off, I moved the pasta pot off the burner, turned the heat down to medium, and put my sauce pot on the large burner.
Added 1 cup of pasta water to my sauce pot and scraped up the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Brought it to a simmer.
Added pasta to the sauce pot and stirred vigorously - emulsifying the sauce and the pasta water.
It started to look a little dry so I added another 1/2 cup of pasta water. Stirred for about 2 minutes total.
Tasted a pasta noodle to make sure it was al dente.
Done! Removed it from the heat.
Finished with butter and Parmesan.
Stirred until the cheese was melted.
Served with lots of pepper.
Next time:
It was pretty damn good this time; I don’t think I’d change anything. I’d switch up the sausage (to Italian pork sausage) depending what was at the grocery store. Quality sausage is key in this recipe.
😋😋😋
-Ellisa