A hearty weeknight pasta dish that is the ultimate healthy-ish comfort food. Roasted broccoli, sweet Italian sausage, Aleppo pepper, and parmesan cheese. Your new favorite pasta recipe will be ready in 30 minutes!
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the fusilli and cook according to package instructions (reserve pasta water!)
Meanwhile, prepare the broccoli for roasting. Break broccoli into florets, spread out on a sheet pan, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast in a 425° oven for 20 minutes until the edges are crispy and the stems tender.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat crumble the sausage into the skillet and cook, breaking apart with a spoon, until lightly browned, 5-6 minutes. Add up to 1 tbsp of olive oil to skillet if needed (if the sausage releases a lot of fat you will not need to add any additional oil).
Add garlic to pan, and cook for 2 more minutes. Add spinach and stir until wilted.
Using a slotted spoon, add pasta to the pan with sausage, stir well and slowly stir in 1/4 cup of salted pasta water. Add roasted broccoli, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, and toss to blend.
Serve with additional cheese sprinkled on top, a drizzle of olive oil, and an extra pinch of Aleppo pepper (or crushed red pepper).
Notes
Note on sausage:Loose or crumbled sausage will work best here, you can also remove the casing from the sausage and crumble into the pan. If you are using link chicken sausage dice into cubes.