Orecchiette with sausage and spinach

One of our favorite meals is one of the easiest meals ever. A few years ago, I was visiting my friend Trish in DC. She had me over for dinner and made a declicious pasta with broccoli rabe, sausage, and orechiette (Italian translation: small ear-shaped pasta). After getting back to NJ, I looked up the recipe and attempted to duplicate it: Giada's Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe dish. It turned out great, but Jim wasn't a big fan of the broccoli rabe.

The next time we made the dish, we used spinach instead of the broccoli rabe, and it was a hit! We've made variations of this recipe with chorizo and both sweet and spicy sausage.

Last night, Jim was in charge of dinner, and he jumped at the opporunity to make this. It's become one of his faovites! I recommend giving this one a try. It's a light pasta... no sauce or heavy taste. Everything tastes simple and fresh.

Jim and Erin's Orecchiette with sausage and spinach (makes 2 generous portions)
Ingredients:
Orecchiette pasta
Turkey sausage, 3 links, casings removed (we used sweet Italian sausage this time)
2 cloves chopped garlic
olive oil
3/4 bag of baby spinach
Locatelli cheese (optional)

Directions:
Cook orecchiette according to package while preparing other ingredients. Sautee garlic in about 4 tbsps. of olive oil for a couple minutes. Add sausage, breaking up into smaller pieces until fully cooked. Add in spinach until completely wilted. After draining pasta, add sausage and spinach mixture on top and add cheese to taste.
(Note: in our house, we NEVER use parmesean cheese. I know some people love it, but I've always been turned off by the oversized green KRAFT container. We are tride and true locatelli fans. If you haven't tried it, you must!)