Italian Sausage and Kale Pasta

Next kale recipe will be an entree. Once again, I saw a recipe today and made it my own. Bad habit. This recipe is super fast, easy, and 5 ingredients(i don't count olive oil and garlic). How about that?! I will tell you exactly what I did tonight so that you can benefit 100%. 

Sausage and Kale pasta:

• 1 cup dry short cut pasta(I used penne, but would recommend a seashell or something smaller)
• 1 bunch of kale(I used curly): devained, washed, and chopped
• sweet italian sausage(I bought a package with 5 links)
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• red pepper flake
• EVOO
• parmesan cheese

Bring pot of water to a boil, add a generous amount of salt and pasta. Cook according to package directions. Drain, reserving your pasta water.

In large skillet brown ALL 5 sausage links with garlic cloves and a tsp or so of red pepper flake.(how much red pepper you add depends on how much heat you like in a dish, I like a lot of heat. Even if you don't like spice, I highly recommend you add a little pepper flake. The flavor is necessary with the kale) I did not dice my garlic, just smashed whole cloves with my knife. Once brown, put all sausage and garlic in food processor and pulse until finely ground. If you don't have a food processor you can also use a potato smasher to make your sausage fine. Place ground sausage back in skillet and continue to cook. Here is my fun trick: scoop out about 1 cup of your cooked sausage. I put mine in a freezer ziploc bag and put it in the freezer. This is a great go to for a spaghetti sauce or pizza topping! To the remaining sausage in the skillet, add about 2 tbs EVOO to pan along with chopped kale. Stir to combine over medium heat until kale has wilted. Add cooked pasta and parmesan cheese. ( I did not tell you how much cheese because that is 100% up to you) Toss all together and serve! Feel free to top with more yummy cheese! 

Once again, if you have any questions just ask!