Smoked Sausage & Kale Pasta with Walnut Crumble

🧂 Ingredients

• 2.5 cups dry pasta

  about half a 500 gram / 10 oz package
• 2.5 cups kale

  diced
• ⅔ cup walnuts

  crumbled
• 1 cup smoked sausage
• 1 cup parmesan cheese

  grated
• 1 red pepper

  finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic

  finely minced
• 1 teaspoon chili flakes
• 1.5 cups pasta water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

  for cooking, plus or minus
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

  for finishing, plus or minus

Instructions

• 1 Boil the pasta to al dente (slightly undercooked) according to package
  directions. Do a bite test to see if it's slightly undercooked.
• 2 While the pasta is boiling, dice up the sauce ingredients. Roughly cut the
  sausage and kale; finely dice the red pepper; crumble the walnuts; mince the
  garlic; and grate the parmesan if it's not pre-grated.
• 3 Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, walnuts
  chili flakes and garlic and sauté until the fat renders out of the sausage. If
  the sausage is lean, add a tablespoon of oil (or more if things are sticking).
  Pro tip: reserve some of the walnuts for garnish, and some of the garlic for
  adding near the end of cooking (to layer the flavor)
• 4 Once the garlic, nuts and sausage are aromatic and slightly browned, add the red
  pepper and kale. Sauté until they are soft and reduced in volume.
• 5 Use a spider strainer or slotted spoon to add the pasta to the skillet,
  reserving at least 1.5 cups of the pasta water.
• 6 Add the parmesan cheese to the skillet along with 1 cup pasta water. Any
  reserved garlic can also be added now. Stir continuously until the cheese melts
  into the pasta water and thickens into a sauce (3-4 minutes).
• 7 If the pasta is not saucy enough, add half a cup more pasta water and continue
  stirring until it thickens.
• 8 Taste to see if the pasta is sufficiently cooked and if any salt is needed.

Nutrition Info