Spring Asparagus Sausage Pasta
This pasta has it all- veggies, savory sausage, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes for a little flavor bomb in every bite. I made this pasta on the fly one night and my husband took one bite and said “please keep this in the regular rotation.” It was delicious! It takes less than 30 minutes to put together, makes large portions, and will keep everyone happy!
Ingredients Needed
Pasta: 1 pound of your favorite shape pasta. I used Campanella pasta. Other shapes that would work well are rigatoni, penne, gemelli, etc. Long pasta would likely be harder to use.
Spicy Italian sausage: I love the extra kick the spicy sausage gives this dish, but if you don’t like spice, use sweet Italian.
Mozzarella pearls: I used an entire container of these for the whole dish and they were perfect!
Asparagus: One bunch of fresh asparagus, cut into 1 inch segments.
Arugula: 2-3 cups to add at the end. You can also sub for kale or spinach.
Sun-dried tomatoes: These are an easy way to crank up the flavor in any meal. I use sun-dried tomatoes in oil.
Garlic: 1-2 garlic cloves is perfect for this recipe.
Recipe
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 lb pasta (Campanella, penne, rigatoni)
2 lbs loose spicy Italian sausage
1 bunch asparagus, cleaned and trimmed
2-3 cups arugula
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz mozzarella pearls, drained\
Salt and pepper
1 TBSP olive oil
Parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions
Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Cook pasta as directed for al dente pasta.
In a large skillet, add 1 TBSP olive oil and garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add in the sausage, salt and pepper the meat, and brown for 3-5 minutes.
Cut the asparagus into 1 inch segments and add to the sausage mix. Add in the sun dried tomatoes WITH oil. The oil helps form the sauce for the pasta. At this point the sausage asparagus mixture will look oily. Cook until the sausage is fully cooked and turn the heat off. Try to time this with the cooking of the pasta so everything stays hot.
Drain the pasta and add directly to the sausage mixture. Make sure the pan is off heat.
Add in arugula and mozzarella and mix well.
Serve with parmesan cheese and enjoy!
