Kale and Sausage Penne with Lemon Cream Sauce

By CheeseDiva

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
• 1 bunch kale, stemmed and roughly chopped
• 2 1/2 cups half and half
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 pound dried penne pasta
• 3 tbsp. finely chopped parsley, for garnish

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from saveur.com

Preparation

Step 1

This is a pasta dish of strong flavors: dark, earthy kale is offset by bright lemon cream and a warm, aromatic heat from crushed red chiles and garlic.

1. Heat oil in a 6-qt saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and red chile flakes; cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add sausage, and cook, using a wooden spoon to break it up into small pieces until browned, 16 to 18 minutes. Add kale, season with salt and pepper, and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add half and half and bring to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally until reduced by a third, 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in Parmesan, juice and zest, nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper; set aside and keep warm.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add penne and cook, stirring occasionally until al dente, 8 to 9 minutes. Drain, reserving ¼ cup cooking water; add both pasta and water to reserved sauce and cook about 5 minutes more. Serve garnished with parsley.

A very good pasta. My husband is very traditional with his tried and true pasta recipes, such as a good Ragu or Bolognese. He loved this. I did as well. The citrus added a great touch.

Easy and delicious! I subbed shrimp for the sausage, so I'm not rating the recipe. I also used only 1.5 cups half and half and about 2/3 of the pasta. Kept all other amounts as indicated. The lemon zest makes this dish special!

Outstanding. Used bow tie pasta as it was all I had.Very lemony just added a bit more cheese and 1/2 & 1/2. Even better next day.

Aside from chopping the garlic, onion, and washing the kale, the recipe was pretty quick to make, too. I am definitely adding this to my winter rotation.