Penne with sausage and broccoli
Browned sausage, tender broccoli and garlic come together with parmesan and pasta water into a silky sauce with no cream at all.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.92 a serving
- 880 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 broccoli, crowns, about 1½ lb
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 12 oz penne
- ½ cup grated parmesan, plus more to serve
- ½ lemon (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, for the pasta water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
Each serving has about 880 calories, 36 g protein, 78 g carbs and 48 g fat, and costs about $2.92 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No broccoli? Frozen broccoli works.
- No penne? Rigatoni or elbow macaroni works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add the salt, cover, and bring it .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cut the broccoli into small bite-size florets and the garlic.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high. Add the sausage in small pieces and cook 7 to 8 minutes, breaking it up, until with no pink left.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 8 min
Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Turn the heat to medium-low, add the garlic and pepper flakes, and stir 1 minute, . Then turn off the heat.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Garlic burns fast in hot fat. Pull it when it’s pale gold, not brown.Add the penne to the boiling water and cook as the package says. Add the broccoli to the same pot for the last 3 minutes.
High heatTimer: 11 min
Dolly’s tip: One pot for both. The broccoli turns bright green and tender right alongside the pasta.Scoop out a mug of , then the penne and broccoli.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Tip the pasta and broccoli into the skillet with the parmesan and ½ cup pasta water, and over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until a glossy sauce coats everything.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: If it looks dry, add more pasta water a splash at a time.Squeeze the lemon over the top and serve with more parmesan.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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