One Pan Pasta With Broccoli and Sausage
You guys! I’ve decided I need more connivence in my life. School is in full swing, we’re starting to get the routine under our belts, but life still feels kind of hectic. You know what I mean? I feel like I always have more things I should be getting done (cleaning! cooking!, blogging!); but I’m always rushing out the door on my way to either pick up Aiden, drop him off, or some important errand that must be completed in the small window between Aiden pick up’s and drop offs. It’s getting to the point that I’m just always feeling behind, and I hate feeling behind. I think maybe if I could come up with ways to stream line some of my tasks or make them more convenient, I might be able to catch back up!
Cleaning is one of the areas I always feel the most behind in. Not that our house is ever gross, but it’s certainly never as clean as I like it. Hence, I’ve decided that I really, really, want a roomba. Ever since I first heard of the roomba I’ve thought it was a completely astoundingly brilliant idea. A vacuum that does all the work by itself? Yes! YES!
I figure I’d put it in the corner of the kitchen. Our kitchen floor really is always dirty. I sweep and swiffer it, LITERALLY everyday, and yet, there is always a coffee spot or two, a dusting of flour, and tons of crumbs under the table that need cleaning up. Some of it is me. I cook a lot (obvi). Some of it is my husband (he drips coffee a lot). Most of it is from the boys. My boys are really messy eaters. They are polite. They never toss food on the floor on purpose, yet I suspect that 1/3 of their meals must end up on the floor in crumb form. But, with a roomba, ta-da, no more crumbs! I figure it can zoom around after dinner and vacuum everything, which requires no effort from me. Genius!
Though I do worry, can one roomba handle all the crumbs my children produce? My kids are like evil villains of crumb-y-ness. Maybe if I got the most upgraded model, like a super smart, adaptable, ninja version? It would probably be ok then. Ninja roomba. I like it. I can see it now…
Of course we’ll put a cute little ninja mask on it. The roomba will hide stealthy-like in the furthest corner of the kitchen and magically wiz out the second the first crumb drops from the table and vacuum it up lightening fast. Zoom. Whoosh. Zoom! Crumbs continue to fall. The roomba vacuums them right out of the air. Whoosh. Slurp. Chomp. Zoom!
Next thing you know the roomba has adapted. Realizing most of the mess in the house comes from Aiden and Tristan, it begins stalking them around the house with it’s mini Samurai sword, from room to room. It waits under the kitchen tables at meal times. There is no longer a crumb to be seen.. anywhere… ever. Occasionally, it makes those slow-mo ninja noises while cleaning, “Whaaaa-yaaaaa….”
YES.
So, I Googled roombas and couldn’t find any ninja-bots. The best I came up with was a cat riding a roomba in a dinosaur costume, chasing a duck. Which admittedly is kinda hilarious-awesome in it’s massive silliness; but it’s still no ninja-bot. Maybe the ninja-bot is still in development?… Roomba people, if your reading this build me a world dominating ninja-vacuume please!
Dreams of ninja bots aside. I have found one *real* thing that reliably helps stream line my day and make life run a little smoother. As you may have guessed it’s a quick and easy recipe. Despite being a food blogger I’m always behind in the cooking dinner arena too. I’m a big fan of crock pot recipes, one pot meals, and weeknight pastas; because many a day after school what I need is dinner in a hurry.
Pasta tends to be a go to in our house when we are in the NEED DINNER FAST situation. It only takes 10-15 minutes to boil a pot of pasta and toss some sauce on it. Plus, it’s something my kids (and pretty much everyone else) will reliably eat without a ton of nagging on my part. Obviously a weeknight dinner winner here.
And then… drum roll please… a couple of weeks ago I discovered One Pan Pasta. It’s the quick weeknight pasta, on steroids. Pasta, which didn’t take that much time in the first place just got quicker. Where oh, where, you wonderful recipe have you been all my life? (Apparently this has been all the rage on the internet for a while now, like here, how on Earth did I miss it until now?)
Yes, you really do cook everything (pasta, vegetables, meat if you want it, tomatoes, etc.) in one large skillet. The pasta comes out perfectly cooked, and everything else in the skillet cooks down to make a beautiful sauce, in about 10 minutes! All you have to do is stir, and serve, and maybe top with cheese. Complete meal. Insanely tasty. One skillet. Plus, as you can imagine dishes are a wiz!
Possibly best of all, the recipe is really easy to adapt. The original more or less called for linguine, cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper, and basil. The first version I made (which I’m sharing with you today) had linguine, Italian sausage links, broccoli, balsamic, Italian herbs, garlic, and dried shiitake mushrooms, and a few tomatoes, more or less because that’s what I could round up from my freezer and pantry that night. (I almost always have cooked Italian sausage cooked and frozen on hand.)
The key that really makes this work is the liquid to pasta ratio. Pretty much anything else you want to toss in is a go from there. For every 16oz box of linguine you will need 6 cups of liquid. That can be water, broth, wine, some combo of these, or whatever else you can think up. Though, I would not recommend orange juice, because that sounds really yucky. Otherwise I say go wild! Meat (cooked- toss it right in, uncooked- brown in the skillet before tossing everything else in on top of it), veggies of any sort, oils, vinegars, lemon juice… you name it. Whatever combo you come up with pretty much will be tasty, because hello, pasta!?
So give my version a try, try the original, or create your own. I promise this will be a winning recipe you’ll want in rotation forever!
One Pan Pasta With Broccoli and Sausage– Serves four very generously, or six with smaller portions. Adapted from Food52/Martha Stewart.
- 6 Italian sausage links
- 16 oz box linguine
- three tomatoes, diced
- 3 cups fresh or frozen broccoli pieces
- a small handful dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1 teaspoon Italian herb blend
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 5 and 3/4 cups of water
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- fresh grated cheese for serving, I used Montamore ( But Parmesan would work well too.)
- If the sausage links you are using are uncooked, brown them in a large skillet over medium high heat. When they are cooked drain off any excess grease. If the sausage is already cooked place it in the skillet and proceed to step two.
- Place the pasta in the bottom of a large skillet. The past must fit in the skillet laying down. Add the tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, herbs, salt, and garlic to the pan. Pour the water and vinegar into the skillet over everything.
- Bring the skillet to a boil over high heat. Allow everything in the skillet to cook, on high heat, for about 9-12 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked al dente, and most of the cooking liquid has boiled off leaving a sauce in the bottom of the pan. Stir frequently throughout the cooking time to prevent the pasta from clumping together. Use the spoon to break up the sausage into bite sized chunks if desired.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter to the pan and stir into the pasta. Serve hot topped with plenty of cheese.