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Orecchiete is a fun pasta shape to work with; in Italian, it means little ears. According to my dad, my great-grandmother would make this pasta by hand; I don’t have her skills (yet), so when I was recently at Eataly in Chicago, I picked up a bag of dried orecchiette and set out to make a pasta dish in her honor. I came up with this one-pot orecchiette recipe that’s loaded with fennel, kale, and homemade sausage as an easy date-night recipe that any Italian grandmother would be proud of.
One-Pot Orecchiete is an Easy Date-Night Win
While I enjoy cooking, sometimes I want an easy dish where I won’t spend all evening cooking and then cleaning the hundreds or thousands of dishes that result (okay, the actual number of pieces is probably closer to 10 than 100, but you get the point). And if it’s date night, I certainly don’t want to be spending my time doing the dishes; I’d much rather spend that time with my husband.
That’s why one-pot orecchiette is such a win; it’s extremely easy to prep, and doesn’t have a lot of dishes to clean up afterward. You’ll have plenty of time to spend with the people you love, rather than cleaning. Who likes cleaning? Not me. My husband can attest to this. He’s likely the one doing the dishes, one-pot meal or not.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Fennel
I’ve been on a fennel kick lately, but it really is a versatile vegetable that straddles both the sweet and the savory. Most of the polarizing anise flavor is in the stalks, not the bulbs. And cooking the fennel mellows out that anise flavor even more. This is a great dish to try out fennel;
If you absolutely despise fennel and can’t bring yourself to try it again, substitute an equal amount of chopped celery for the fennel in this pasta recipe. It won’t taste the same (the goal for those who don’t like fennel), but celery stalks have a similar texture to fennel and the cooked celery flavor will blend into this recipe.
But try the fennel (again, for the first time, as my mom would say). You might be surprised.
Kale
Kale is a winter staple in my household. While I used Lacinato kale, any variety will work well in this orecchiette recipe as long as it is cut into manageable pieces.
This is also a good opportunity to experiment with other dark leafy greens, if you happen to have them on hand instead. Mustard greens, for example, can be substituted for the kale and would be absolutely delicious.
Remember that leafy greens wilt down substantially when cooked. At first, the amount of kale will seem disproportionate to the rest of the ingredients, but it’ll cook down to the perfect amount.
Ground Pork
Pork is a natural pairing with fennel and kale. But if you’re not a fan of ground pork for whatever reason, try ground turkey. If you can find ground dark meat chicken that could also work.
Orecchiette
Orecchiette is a small pasta shape that works best with chunkier sauces. The scoop shape does a great job scooping and holding pieces of fennel, kale, and sausage.
Good substitutions for orecchiette are other small pasta shapes, like conchiglie (small shells), cavatelli (these are like elongated, thicker shells) , or gnocchi (small lobed shells, not the potato dumpling that has the same name).
While I picked up my dried gnocchi from Eataly, there may be a local pasta maker at your farmers market. The farmers market isn’t just for fruits and vegetables; there are other handcrafted foodstuffs that are worth checking out.
Tips and Tricks
Use a stock pot when making a one-pot pasta dish like this. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, “oh, this’ll fit just fine,” when using a smaller pot, but it isn’t. Now I reflexively reach for the stock pot. Yes, it seems big; but there are a lot of ingredients that are all going into the same pot, and the wide bottom will allow the pork to sear well without overcrowding.
Serving Suggestions
This one pot orecchiette recipe makes a lot of pasta. But the good news is that it freezes and reheats well. I like to freeze leftovers into single serving portions, then vacuum seal them for better storage (and no freezer burn).
One-Pot Orecchiette with Fennel, Kale, and Sausage
This one-pot orecchiette recipe is loaded with fennel, kale, and homemade sausage and is an easy date-night recipe that any Italian grandmother would be proud of. And since it's made in all in the same pot, cleanup is a breeze.
Ingredients
For the Sausage
- 1 lb ground pork
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp ground pepper
- ⅛ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp dried oregano
For the pasta
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 bunch kale, stems stripped and leaves torn into bite sized pieces
- 12 oz dried orecchiette
- 32 oz chicken stock (4 cups)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
Instructions
- Mix ground pork with salt, ground pepper, red pepper flakes, and oregano until just combined.
- Heat avocado oil in a large pot (stock pot preferable) on medium high heat. Add ground pork mixture and sauté until brown and cooked through.
- Turn heat down to medium, and add onion and fennel. Sauté until both are soft and translucent. Add garlic.
- Add kale, orecchiette, chicken stock, and salt. Stir to mix completely. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 18 minutes or until the orecchiette is tender (al dente)
- Turn off heat and stir in ricotta.
