If there’s one thing you should know about me when it comes to food, it’s that I love pasta. Although I’ve never tested it, I’m positive I could eat pasta every day of the week and never grow tired of it. The best thing about pasta is that, with very few ingredients, you can make a quick weeknight meal that is full of flavor. Instead of sticking with boring old spaghetti (don’t get me wrong, I love spaghetti), add some flavors into the pot, along with some veggies and you can easily liven up a pasta dish.
Whenever I don’t have tomatoes or pasta sauce on hand, I always turn to my trusty dish of noodles with butter and spices. Paired with a healthy salad, this dinner is such a nice go-to meal when I’m in a bind, don’t have very many ingredients on hand or don’t feel like running up to the grocery store. I recently made this dish the other night and, like always, it was a huge hit in our home.
With this version, I decided to spice this dish up a bit by adding spinach and mild sausage since I had both of these ingredients in my freezer. With just a few extra steps, I had a dish that was not only beautiful, but also filling and flavorful. I know that I’ll be turning to this dish many times down the road. To me, you can never go wrong with pasta, veggies, meat and a delicious sauce to tie everything together.
Spinach and Sausage Pasta
Ingredients:
- 1 package thick spaghetti noodles
- 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 5 mild Italian sausages, casings removed and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 3-4 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed
- 1/2 teaspoon Oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon Parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Salt (depending on taste)
- Dash of salt (depending on taste)
- Dash of Cayenne Pepper (depending on taste)
Directions:
- Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Put a dash of salt into the boiling water and then add the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the directions.
- Pour olive oil into a frying pan, heat the oil and then add the sausage pieces. Cook the sausage thoroughly and then remove and set the sausage on paper towel and allow to drain.
- Drain the pasta and then return to the pot. Add the spinach, sausage and remaining ingredients into the pot and stir the noodles to coat.
- Serve warm.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy pasta?
Wonderful pasta dish!
Oh, I love a dish that comes together quickly from the pantry & freezer!
I love pasta any which way too. If I had to pick a favorite I think it would be ravioli or tortellini.
Great recipe for weeknight dinner! Yum!
I think you should test it out… eat pasta every day this week & see if you get tired of it. Nope, I wouldn't either!
What a beautiful dish of pasta!
I agree; you can never go wrong with a pasta dish as lovely as this one!
The colors in this pasta are so pretty. You're right – you can never go wrong with a hearty meal of pasta.
I am pasta obsessed. I'm sure I'd love this. Thanks for sharing.
Very nice, look forward to trying on pasta night.
This is very similar to one of my go-to pasta dishes: pasta with Italian sausage and broccoli rabe. I love how the spiciness of the sausage plays with the slight bitterness of the broccoli rabe. And you can't beat that color combination!
What a beautiful photo! This pasta looks fantastic! I am so with you on loving pasta, you can do just about anything with it!
This is on my list to try asap!!
We just had this and it was incredible! I used some minced garlic from a jar and mixed the spices in with the meat, I also replaced the cayenne with red pepper flakes. Even my picky kids loved it.