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by Leah Quinn

Fun loving pasta eaters, rejoice! The fennel, garlic and broccoli go very well with sliced sauteed sausage and freshly grated parmesan cheese along with the crumbled goat cheese - ciao bella! Quick and easy meal to help sneak in some veggies to unsuspecting teenagers and hubbys everywhere!

Ingredients:

• 2 or 3 each hot and sweet sausage links, semi-frozen
• 2 small crowns of fresh broccoli
• 3-6 cloves of fresh garlic
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
• 1 or 2 bulbs fennel with their fawns
• Olive Oil
• Large pot of boiling water for pasta - try rotitini or penne
• One large deep skillet, enough that when after cooking sausages and veggies, you can also throw pasta in.
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
• A couple shakes of dried red pepper flakes
• Freshly cracked pepper
• Salt

Directions:

1. Put pot on to boil for pasta
2. Take out sausage from freezer, and slice links into 1/3 inch slices
3. Put skillet onto stove, add small drizzle of olive oil and put sliced sausages in.
4. Add red chili flakes and fresh cracked pepper - the heat from the skillet opens up their flavors.
5. While the sausage cooks, mince up garlic and set aside.
6. Rinse and break apart broccoli into small bite size pieces and set aside.
7. Cut off frawns from fennel, and with the remaining bulb, slice thin and break apart to resemble onion slices. Set aside frawns for now.
8. Once water has started to boil, add good amount of salt to water and a bit of olive oil.
9. To cooking sausage slices, add sliced fennel and broccoli to skillet.
10. Continue cooking broccoli, sausages and fennel allowing the fennel to caramelize along with sliced sausages.
11. Mince up two tablespoons fawns from the fennel and grate up your cheese.
12. Drain pasta when just al dente, but try and reserve up to 1 cup of pasta water.
13. Add drained cooked pasta to deep skillet and add freshly minced garlic to the mix.
14. Add 1/2 of the cheese and up to 1/2 cup pasta water and stir till all are combined. Continue cooking for one to 4 minutes. Add crumbled goat cheese.
15. Serve up on plates, sprinkle a little of the minced fennel frawns and extra grated cheese. Ciao Bella! Mangia Mangia pronto!

This is one of those great tasting easy dishes, and the goat cheese once is melts creates a similar feel in your mouth to alfredo sauce but without a lot of the naughty added fat.

Tags: pasta, sausages, broccoli, fennel, pasta recipe