This baked penne, broccoli and ricotta dish is great for weeknights and potlucks. Leave the chicken sausage out to make it vegetarian.
Happy National Pasta Day, friends! In honor of today’s holiday, I have a very tasty and easy pasta dish to share with you.
I made this dish with the help of this gorgeous Lagostina Martellata Hammered Copper Pastaiola Set.
I’ve used this pot for all manner of blanching, steaming, and cooking by now (it also happens to work well as a canning pot for half pint jars!) and have taken to leaving it on the stove between uses, because I so enjoy seeing it there in all its gleaming glory.
The recipe I’m sharing with you today puts this pot to work twice. First, I use it to blanch off a bunch of chopped broccoli. Once it’s cooked, I use the same water to cook the whole wheat penne.
While the broccoli cooks, I browned some chicken sausage in a little olive oil and then drained it on a plate. Once the broccoli is bright green and tender, it gets drained and poured into the pan where the sausage had cooked.
From there, it’s a matter of building a sauce of pressed garlic and ricotta cheese. I wrap it up by adding the cooked sausage back in, along with the pasta, a healthy splash of pasta water, and a generous handful of grated parmesan cheese. Finally, it gets popped into the oven to melt the cheese and crisp the edges of the pasta.
I love having a petite pasta pot like this one in my kitchen, because it allows me to stay at the stove, rather than dripping water between the sink and the stove. I’ve long had a larger pasta pot, but rarely pulled it out because it was just too much for my regular weeknight cooking. This one is just so much more functional for my household.
Disclosure: Lagostina sent me this pasta pot to use and write about. No additional compensation was provided. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Baked Penne, Broccoli, and Ricotta
Ingredients
- 1 pound broccoli florets and stems, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 pound chicken sausage
- 12 ounces short whole wheat pasta
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Fill a pasta pot with water and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, salt the water well and add the broccoli. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until it turns a vivid green.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the chicken sausage from its casing and brown in the pan, using a spatula to break it up into crumbles. Once it is brown, use a slotted spoon and transfer the cooked pasta onto a paper towel-lined plate.
- Tumble the cooked broccoli into the pan that had once held the sausage and reduce the heat to medium. Bring the water in the pasta pot back to a boil and add the pasta.
- Add the garlic to the broccoli, along with the ricotta cheese and the drained sausage. Stir to combine.
- When the pasta is finished cooking, drain it and pour it into the pan with the other ingredients. Stir to combine and add 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese, along with 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water.
- Season with salt and pepper, and add more pasta water, if it is too thick.
- Top with the remaining parmesan cheese. Slide the pan under the broiler to brown the top.
Such a beautiful pot! I’d use it to boil up some cheese tortellini and smother them with herb pesto I made this past summer (and put up in the freezer) with the bountiful green herbs from my garden. Thanks for this opportunity and enjoy your vacation!
I love that it would work for canning! And of course it’s a perfect pot for pasta, soup, and just keeping out and admiring!
Wow, that’s gorgeous. I’d use it for blanching veggies and canning more often than pasta.
I’d love to try this recipe in this pot – it looks and sounds delicious. The pot is beautiful! I think I would leave it on the stove too. What a great idea to use it with canning half pint jars. Thanks so much for the opportunity to win this great piece of cookware.
Oh wow, I’d use this for so many things! Pasta, blanching vegetables, canning, stock…
What a lovely pot !….I’d use it for blanching vegetables especially unruly spinach, which always scatters on me. And of course for cooking pasta !
Today’s my Birthday and this would be a fabulous present for me to cook chili with veggies.
I’d leave on my stove and use for pasta, canning yum!
This would be My go to pot for Everything! And when I wasn’t cooking in it, I would be admiring it on My stove!!!
This time of year is screaming for butternut squash risotto.
Thank you for yet another intriguing recipe to try, as well as brightening my day by showing off this fabulous pot.
Some seafood pasta dishes are in order for this fall! Starting with clam linguini, thanks for the chance!
Oh my great giddy aunt, what would I not use this pot for? Pasta, small batches of stock, veggies; the possibilities are endless!
That is a pretty one. Thanks for considering me.
A beautiful pot like this would HAVE to be used for steaming vegetables, blanching vegetables, and of course, pasta! The recipe? Firstly, steamed broccoli with lemon pepper and butter. Second, spaghetti with slow cooked tomato sauce. Third, blanched cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls. I can think of so many more!
I constantly make some sort of soup…..this would be great for any vegetable preps.
I would use the pot to cook pasta as well as to blanch veggies. It’s a gorgeous pot. It’s the kind that should be showcased on a shelf or open cabinet.
wow, this is wonderful for vegetables and would like to show it off by using it to do some canning!
This may be the most beautiful pot I’ve ever seen! I adore pasta and can see me making some steamed shrimp and veggie primavera!
This pot would be absolutely perfect for blanching bell peppers and tomatoes for preserving. I don’t have anything like this, and it’s so beautiful! 🙂
I can think of a gazillion uses for this beauty! Homemade pasta, potatoes and sweet potatoes, large batches of soup, small batches of canning goods. it would not collect dust!
I would use this one instead of my huge LeCreuset pans. They are too large for my normal cooking now.
Ooh, cooking pasta, steaming veggies, canning, hard boiling eggs, mashed potatoes… I could probably find more things to do with it. So pretty!
I would use the sweet pot to make my amazing homemade chili! It would compliment the color of the pot nicely. Haha! Thanks for the opportunity to enter.
I must have pasta 4-5 days per week. I make it fresh in large batches and freeze. I always intend to buy one of the pasta pots with strainer and just never get that far down kitchen wish list. This one is a beauty!
Ooh…I’d use this pot to replace the All Clad Pasta pot we got a year ago; we don’t like it b/c it takes forever to come to a boil.
I appreciate the photo of how you tilt the strainer pan on top of the bottom pot–I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle the strainer once the pasta is done (usually I just sit it in the (clean) sink and serve from there).
I would use this beauty for pasta. However, since I am grain free, my pasta would be made from all sorts of spiralized veggies and vegetable soups. I would also use it for corn on the cobb. And, best off all, just for the beauty of it sitting on my stove shining brightly and reminding me to use it a lot.
I would make cozy pastas and soups, this fall and beyond!
What a gorgeous pot! I’d definitely use it for steaming vegetables, and all of my favorite stews.
I think it would be wonderful to use for corn on the cob, a dozen at a time for our sweet corn suppers!
I would use this beautiful pot for small batches of citrus marmalade.
I have a microwave-free kitchen and have a cooker like this on my wish list for reheating leftovers, as well as its other functions. What a beauty!
I’ve been really enjoying making home-made pasta, and I suspect this pot would cook it beautifully.
I love making all sorts of soup and pasta this time of year. I would definitely make my butternut squash soup in this.
This is a beautiful pot and I would use it for risotto
Ooh. I would use this pot as decoration! But practically, it would be great to have this size…I only have a huge pot and several smaller ones and often wish I had a medium size.
I would use this for so many things: soups, stews, pasta and probably meatballs!
I would leave that gorgeous pot on the stove also. I would use it for pasta and small batch canning.
Lots of pasta!
Pasta…soup…beauty…
I would cook pasta, steamed veggies, and tamales.
I would use it for the one pot creamy chicken pasta I like making. And I think it would make a beautiful soup pot.
What a beauty! I’d use it for steamed vegetables and canning for sure!
This pot is gorgeous! I’d use it for pastas, soups, canning, making stock – you name it!
Soup, glorious soup….and the pleasure of just looking at it.
I would use this gorgeous pot for cooking homemade pasta and soups (recently made pozole).
I would find so many uses for this beautiful pot! Even canning smaller batches of jams and sauces.
I’d use it for pasta, stews, soups, and other yummy winter foods!
I’d use this beautiful pot for pasta and steamed vegetables!
What a beauty, I’m intrigued with using this pot for processing small batches of jam.
I would use this pot to make soups
Soups & Stews. Soups and Stews.
I would steam all the veggies. Steaming is the easiest way for me to cook broccoli, or I tend to cook it that way anyway. Probably make a fair amount of soup too.
Using this to make your Baked Penne, Broccoli, and Ricotta, would be the start, but there’s so many other things, too. Washing poduce in it and recycling the water to my plants or mini garden would be a great use, also. Beautiful.
What a great pot! I think I would use it for making pasta, and canning of course!
I would use it for pasta, but also decor – I love copper pots!
To be honest, it is so beautiful that I think I’d use it for just about everything!
What a gorgeous pan! I’d leave it out all the time to show it off. Once in a while I’d even cook in it. Pasta, soup and whatever else. I also kind of love your aqua stove, Marisa. How old is it? I’m sure I’m old enough to remember when that color was in but I don’t think you are!
I love that pan! It would get used for a good many thing, it’s the perfect size for soups, stews, chili and pasta!
Yummy, both the recipe and the pot.
This is a useful and beautiful piece to be used for blanching and easily draining many types of vegetables, steeping teas, which I make in big batches, including for kombucha, stock, and of course, pasta!
It’s beautiful! I want to learn to make my own pasta!
What a beautiful pan! I would leave it on the cooktop so I could see the beautiful copper.
Pasta, soup, chili, canning.
I would love to make my family’s favorite pasta dish, pizza hot dish, using this pot!
Having never made handmade pasta, I’d use this pot as inspiration to give it a shot!
I would use it to make pasta to go along with the spaghetti and pizza sauces we can this summer. Also with so little self space in the kitchen it would be great to leave out on the counter because it is so beautiful.
I would use this pot for matzoh balls
This great pot could be used in a hundred different ways. My first recipe would be chicken rigatoni, cooked in much the same way as your penne broccoli.
Chicken noodle soup. Fall is here.
I would make pastas and soups! So beautiful!
I would use it to make broth and soup as well as pasta
I would use this beautiful pot for everything.
I have a small copper pan that I bought in Edinburgh on our honeymoon 40+ years ago. I normally use it for making caramel or making sugared citrus peel but it just isn’t big enough. There is always a risk of the hot liquid boiling up and over the side. This Pasta Pot would be perfect!
How many countless ways to use this pot!!! Of course, pasta, steaming vegetables, soup, and making vegetable broth – just raise the strainer with vegetables out and broth is done.
Does just staring at it count as a use? It’s beautiful! Sincerely, though, I’d love to use it for my homemade pasta and for canning.
First thing I would make is the above Baked penne-broccoli-ricotta recipe substituting Gluten free Pasta.
I would use that to cook homemade papparadelle with braised mushrooms
I would make lots of different pasta dishes with the pot!
I do a lot of cooking. This Lagostina Martellata Hammered Copper Pastaiola Set would be so nice to have in my kitchen. I’d make my spaghetti with meatballs.
I would use it for cooking and decorating…copper is perfect accent metal for fall!
Pasta party! Several pounds of fettuccine and a handful of my closest friends. 🙂
I would use it exactly as you do. Ours is an empty nest and it would be perfect!
What a gorgeous pot! My husband makes fresh pasta, absolutely soooo much better than dried, and we have friends over for dinner parties. I’m in charge of the sauce, guests are in charge of the sides and wine, of course. This pot would be a beautiful addition to the festive atmosphere!
Soup, of course! And broth. I don’t have a good broth kettle. I usually saute all the vegetables for my favorite pasta, but obviously, I’d have to use this pot for the actual pasta! I cook for 2 to 4 people, and this would be just right.
That would quickly become my cookware of choice for pasta and soups.
Whenever I asked my 4.5 year old what she wants for supper, she says “pasta” so we make a lot of this type of dish. This would make it so much simpler to be able to blanch and boil in the same pot and not have to haul out my 8 qt. All Clad for every pasta dinner.
I like the size of this pot. I too have a large pasta pot that is cumbersome to use. I would use this to blanch veggies and cook small servings of pasta.
Wonderful pot, I’d definitely use it for pasta and blanching veggies. Looks like it would be good for steaming larger veggies like artichokes. I always have to pull out my much large pot and steamer basket to do those.
I would use it for pasta and risotto! It’s gorgeous.
Such a beautiful handsome multipurpose pot, the Lagostina pot is a winner in the kitchen! I’d love to simmer up winter soups, warming pastas, savory stews and beautifully simmered pasta red sauces. I love to can as well so this would be a nice option when water-bathing small batches of jams. Such a prize!
Pasta, pasta and more pasta!!!!
Pasta and blanching. It’s so beautiful!
What an absolutely gorgeous pot! I would use is for pasta, soups, stews, mashed potatoes, canning jam…the list goes on and on.
I would also use this pot for soups, bone broths, tomato sauce….the sky’s the limit!
I’d use it to make lots and lots and lots of pasta!
That gorgeous pot would be used to make pasta and so much more in my kitchen!
There is a whole rage of Indian food that I make that would be great in the steamer. I would love to elaborate more if I had it Chances are you have never heard of them if you taste them though will never go back.
Beautiful!
I would use it to lift my spirits as I cook because it is beautiful 🙂
(I,m sure it does an awesome job of cooking, steaming foods as well)
i would use this all the time, espcially during harvest season when freezing batch after batch of fresh veggies! Such a gorgeous pot.
I’d use this pot to make my kids’ favorite – mac & cheese and peas – as well as to make pierogis and steamed dumplings.
I would love to make tortellini chicken soup!!