Ingredients

• Pasta. The Italian word Orecchiette translates to “little ears”
• Sausage. Sweet fennel pork sausage
• Broccoli rabe.
• Cherry peppers.

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and blanch the broccoli rabe for 2-3 minutes or until it turns bright green. Using tongs or a pasta spider, remove the broccoli rabe and set it aside to cool. Do not dump the water as you’ll use it for the pasta later on.
2. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat and saute the sausage until cooked through then remove the sausage from the pan and set aside. At this time, add the orecchiette to the boiling water and cook it to 1-2 minutes shy of al dente.
3. In the same pan the sausage was cooked in, add 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and the chopped garlic and cook until the garlic turns lightly golden, about 2-4 minutes.
4. Add the cherry peppers and return the sausage to the pan and cook over medium heat.
5. Add the broccoli rabe to the pan and mix everything together. Add a cup of pasta water to the pan and cook for 1 minute more.
6. Add the al dente orecchiette and cook until done while tossing and stirring to combine all the ingredients.