Penne with Broccoli and Sausage

This dish is delicious -- great combination of flavors, and it went together very quickly. It's going on our menu again :)

This pasta uses a bean sauce rather than a cream-based one. My hubby, who's not a huge bean fan, even enjoyed this one. I love that we were able to get some more beans in our diet without really even noticing it. Thanks for the tip on making a bean-sauce, Katie!

Penne with Broccoli and Sausage - Adapted from Katie

1 head broccoli, cut into small florets (or 1 bag, frozen broccoli florets)

3 Italian sausages

1 lb whole wheat pasta

1 red pepper, diced (or 1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes)
1/2 C Parmesan cheese

1/2 C pureed, cooked vegetables, optional (I used white beans)

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Add the broccoli florets to the pasta water with 5-6 minutes left before the pasta is done.

Drain pasta (*If you're not adding pureed beans, keep ½ cup pasta water before draining) and return to the pan.

While the pasta is cooking, remove casing from sausages and crumble into large skillet.

Add 1/4 cup water and cook over medium-high heat until water is evaporated and sausage is no longer pink (about 10-12 minutes). Drain excess fat from the sausage.

Add red pepper (or sun dried tomatoes) to the sausage, and saute for an additional 5 minutes or so, until peppers are tender.

In the pasta pot, combine broccoli pasta mix with the sausage mixture.

Make pureed bean sauce -- we used 1/2 C cooked/canned white northern beans, pureed in our blender with about 2 T milk. Add 1 T of milk at a time to reach the right consistency.

Add in the pureed beans and stir to combine. If you don't use pureed veggies, add 1/2 C reserved pasta water.

Add Parmesan cheese and stir to combine.

Enjoy!

This recipe is linked to Tammy's In-Season Swap: Broccoli and to Super Foods: Beans!