Directions
Orecchiette means little ears and the ears will be burning over this recipe - tasty and supper good for you. The friends and family you make it for will be green with envy to be able to make something so delicious!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds - 8 short links or 4 large, hot or sweet Italian sausages
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- Salt
- 1 pound orecchiette pasta
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts
- 1 package or bunch chives, coarsely chopped or torn by hand
- 2 cloves garlic, popped from skin, 1 clove minced, divided
- 12 stems tarragon, 1 package or small bunch, leaves stripped from stems
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more to pass at table
- 1 bunch green Swiss chard, stems removed and roughly chopped
- A little freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
Place sausages in a skillet and add wine and 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil to the pan. Place pan over medium-high heat and let the wine reduce and evaporate, 15 to 18 minutes. Eventually, the casings will crisp up and the wine and oil will glaze the casings.
Place a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Salt water and cook to al dente. Heads up: you will need 1 1/2 cups, a couple of ladles, starchy cooking water just before you drain the orecchiette.
Toast hazelnuts 5 minutes over medium-low heat in a small skillet. Cool a few minutes.
Place the chives, garlic, tarragon, salt and pepper and nuts into food processor and turn it on. Stream in about 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and process the ingredients into a smooth but thick sauce. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and stir in the cheese. The color is stronger if you stir rather than process the cheese into the sauce.
Heat remaining 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium high to high heat. Add greens, minced garlic and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Sear greens, tossing them as they wilt down, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add cooking liquids to pesto in bowl then add pasta and greens and toss to coat the pasta and let the flavors absorb, 1 minute.
Serve 2 braised sausages with lots of greens alongside.
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By klzolsrf@aol.com
Pinetop, AZ
on November 12, 2011
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Sorry, but we had to throw out the sausages. They tasted nasty. The pesto was good, but the raw garlic was a little overwhelming. This is one recipe that I will not make again as there are so many good ones out there.
By pacrim
Chicago Burbs
on April 07, 2011
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I was skeptical of the sausages, so I braised off a pound of them as a test before I committed to the whole meal. Of all the wonderful things we can do with "good" sausages, this is not one of them. The wine only detracted from what can be a wonderful dish without making it any more complex than it is. Clean and simple is the name of the game.
By lrobel26
Martinsburg, WV
on May 03, 2010
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I was a little skeptical about this recipe at first after reading some of the reviews, plus I'm not the biggest fan of tarragon. This was so yummy! I loved the way the sausages turned out (I used sweet Italian turkey sausages, and the pasta was delicious! Definitely a keeper!
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