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.
If I won this pot I would love to make escarole soup. Thanks for the chance.
What a beautiful pot, lots and lots of pasta and some canning also.
Definitely pasta & soup this time of year!
Cook lots of home made pasta and steam veggies!
First I’d make the recipe you posted with this, yummy. Thanks for the chance!
I’d use it for pasta. I usually only make enough for myself and maybe Partner(but he thinks my pasta is chewy)
Teaching friends to put up!
This pot would really class up my kitchen 🙂
What wouldn’t I use it for? So many steamed veggies!
I love anything copper. And I love to cook and bake and can. In this pot would make broth, soups, stews, pasta, lots of pasta, jams and compotes.
It is so beautiful, I might just leave it out and admire it – ha! Seriously, I would use it for pasta!
This beauty would brighten up my kitchen and help my efforts at canning some homemade gardineira, one of my very favorite Italian accompaniments to a salumi platter. I can also see using this to make ramen (broth simmering for days, noodles bathing for a shorter dip).
Goodness – I’d use it for so many things. Pasta, steamed veggies – so many things. It’s a beautiful pot!
It is almost too pretty to use, but I’m sure I’d eventually get around to boiling up some pasta in it!
Che bello!
Not only would I use the Martellata for pasta, but more importantly, I would use it for my Grandpa’s Chicken Paprikash. This is the type of dish which requires a day-ling adventure. It begins with sautéing onions and garlic, then simmering chicken thighs drenched in paprika. This type of dish requires patience, and a hearty bowl of mashed potatoes, cooked in the juices from the chicken.
How would I use that pot? Probably for everything? Pasta, vegetables, gnocci, potatoes! Everything!
I just got back from Italy and am totally inspired to recreate some of the pasta dishes I has there. The ragu, the gnocchi, the ravioli……
To be honest, I’d probably stare at it a lot–what a stunner! But of course, I’d probably use it for making lots of pasta for my half-Italian boyfriend 🙂
My husband and I would make lots of pasta in it since he is Italian, haha!
I love the ease of cooking the past in the pasta strainer. That would probably be the primary use, but it could easily double as a steamer for dumplings.
So darn pretty, I’d probably just have to leave it on the stove top for a couple weeks and stare at it before I would actually get it dirty. When I did, I’m thinking it would make canning that much more fun. Bring on the jam!
Crawfish and cream pasta for the mister and our friends!
Lovely! I’d use it for pasta and veggies but likely some small batch preserving as well. Thanks for hosting!
What a beautiful pot!! Pasta would be a must, perhaps homemade!
Beautiful! After a thorough touching to experience the texture of that shiny, hammered copper, I would make a gluten-free pasta e faglioli for my family!
I would make this pot my chicken and noodle go to. I think you are right it has to look gorgeous just sitting there, so I would hang it on a pot rack.
Thanks,
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OMG, is it wrong to say I would just stare at it all day? I guess I would probably cook pasta in it also…
lovely! Tamales for holidays and all manner of pasta!
That is a splendidly gorgeous pot! It would practically live on my stove, between steaming and blanching veggies, canning small batches of whatever we have in abundance, and cooking rice noodles for my two little pasta fiends. A thing of beauty makes work a joy. And that beauty is totally joy-making!
Boy, that is a gorgeous pot. I could eat pasta every. single. day. but my husband won’t let me. Maybe this pot would convince him.
Gorgeous!!!!!
This pot is beautiful. I would use it for soups and pastas and whatever else I would be cooking.
Wow, it’s so gorgeous! I’m sure I’d use it for loads of things, but the first thing I thought of was making an autumn pasta bake with butternut squash, sage, goat cheese, caramelized onions….!
I’d use this pot to cook pasta and steam veggies, then combine them into a primavera.
I would use it for beans, soups, and pasta!
This pot would be great for weeknight dinners for our family.
Pasta all the time! And broccoli – those are the two foods my toddler will eat reliably so we have them a lot.
Such a beautiful pot! I would use it for pasta, mashed taters, soups!
i guess the real question what could’t i cook in it? mmm pasta
I cook every week for a group of BIG Eagles fans, and they just love pasta! This pot would be lovely, and an attractive and useful addition to my cookware.
Husband newly retired but cultivating a big garden–rediscovering the joy of cooking, but just for two.
I would use this pot for everything, specifically pasta!
I would use this pot for everything, specifically pasta!
would love to use it to make my favorite shrimp pasta!
We are pasta fanatics! This would get so much use!
Pasta….Pasta …..and more Pasta…now trying gluten free too.
Just gorgeous! I’d make lots of pasta in it.
What a gorgeous pot! I am imagining it full of mashed potatoes or other root vegetables. Yum!
Definitely would cook lots of pasta in this pot! Is it tall enough for canning?
What a beautiful pot! I’d use it for pasta (of course!) and steaming a variety of vegetables. It would also work great for blanching veggies prior to freezing.