Pasta Recipes: Italian Cooking: Italian Food Recipes: Orecchiette With Sausage, Tomatoes And Basil

The first time I learned of Orecchiette was when I worked at an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles called Stomboli! It was owned by a man named Frank Mele’ and he was from Bari, in the north of Italy. The pasta originates from Puglia which is Southern Italy. In Italian the word orecchio means ear. The Orecchiette is bowl shaped and about the size of a nickel. When you use Orecchiette try to find a superior brand as you can find Orecchiette in the stores but what you are looking for is Orecchiette that has cuts on the bowl shaped bottom of this pasta as this helps the Orecchiette hold the sauce you use and Orecchiette that is smooth on the bottom is just not as good! Try this Pasta Orecchiette today! You can find the recipe below! Enjoy!

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Ingredients

1 Lbs. Orecchiette Pasta.
1 Lbs. Any kind of sausage you would like to use.
1 Cup rough/fine chopped fresh basil leaves stems removed.
2 Tbsp. Olive oil.
5 Cloves of garlic finely minced.
2-3 Tsp. of oregano.
2-3 Tbsp. finely chopped oil cured sun dried tomatoes.
2-3 Scrambled eggs.
salt and pepper to taste.
1 Cup of either beef, chicken or vegetable stock.
1-3 Ladles of pasta water
Any kind of Italian cheese for topping.
Optional: Crushed red chili pepper flakes.

Instructions

You will need a large saute pan. I use a Cuisinart Chef’s Classic
Remove sausage from it’s casing try to maintain sausage shape.
Now cut sausage into small pieces the size is up to you.
Pour 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil into saute pan.
Now you only want to “par” cook the sausage on medium to medium high heat.
Cook sausage for about a minute or two.
Now add your oiled cured sun dried tomatoes.
Mix this well.
Add your finely minced garlic now.
Don’t let garlic brown you only want to soften it.
Stir mixture together well.
Add your oregano now and stir in well for a minute or so.
Turn off the heat and set this aside. This is the base for our sauce.
For The Pasta
In a large stock pot bring water to boil and salt it well.
Add your Orecchiette pasta and stir well.
You want to cook the pasta to just a little firmer than Al Dente’.
We do this because we will finish cooking the pasta in the saute pan.
Now heat up the sausage and other ingredients in your saute pan.
Carefully add your Orecchiette pasta to the saute pan and stir it well.
Add a ladle of your saved pasta water to the saute pan.
The Orecchiette will soak it up.
Cook for a minute and then add your cup of stock and cook for about five minutes.
Add your scrambled eggs to the saute pan and cook 3 to 5 more minutes.
Just before the Orecchiette is ready to be served add your chopped basil leaves and mix them in well until they soften and reduce in size.
Option: Now you can add your crushed red chili flakes if you desire for some Sicilian heat.
Serve it up eat and enjoy!