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.
What a beauty, I’m intrigued with using this pot for processing small batches of jam.
I’d use this beautiful pot for pasta and steamed vegetables!
I’d use it for pasta, stews, soups, and other yummy winter foods!
I would find so many uses for this beautiful pot! Even canning smaller batches of jams and sauces.
I would use this gorgeous pot for cooking homemade pasta and soups (recently made pozole).
Soup, glorious soup….and the pleasure of just looking at it.
This pot is gorgeous! I’d use it for pastas, soups, canning, making stock – you name it!
What a beauty! I’d use it for steamed vegetables and canning for sure!
I would use it for the one pot creamy chicken pasta I like making. And I think it would make a beautiful soup pot.
I would cook pasta, steamed veggies, and tamales.
Pasta…soup…beauty…
Lots of pasta!
I would leave that gorgeous pot on the stove also. I would use it for pasta and small batch canning.
I would use this for so many things: soups, stews, pasta and probably meatballs!
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.
This is a beautiful pot and I would use it for risotto
I love making all sorts of soup and pasta this time of year. I would definitely make my butternut squash soup in this.
I’ve been really enjoying making home-made pasta, and I suspect this pot would cook it beautifully.
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 would use this beautiful pot for small batches of citrus marmalade.
I think it would be wonderful to use for corn on the cob, a dozen at a time for our sweet corn suppers!
What a gorgeous pot! I’d definitely use it for steaming vegetables, and all of my favorite stews.
I would make cozy pastas and soups, this fall and beyond!
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.
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 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!
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.
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 this one instead of my huge LeCreuset pans. They are too large for my normal cooking now.
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!
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! 🙂
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!
wow, this is wonderful for vegetables and would like to show it off by using it to do some canning!
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.
I constantly make some sort of soup…..this would be great for any vegetable preps.
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!
That is a pretty one. Thanks for considering me.
Oh my great giddy aunt, what would I not use this pot for? Pasta, small batches of stock, veggies; the possibilities are endless!
Some seafood pasta dishes are in order for this fall! Starting with clam linguini, thanks for the chance!
Thank you for yet another intriguing recipe to try, as well as brightening my day by showing off this fabulous pot.
This time of year is screaming for butternut squash risotto.
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!!!
I’d leave on my stove and use for pasta, canning yum!
Today’s my Birthday and this would be a fabulous present for me to cook chili with veggies.
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 !
Oh wow, I’d use this for so many things! Pasta, blanching vegetables, canning, stock…
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.
Wow, that’s gorgeous. I’d use it for blanching veggies and canning more often than pasta.
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!
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!