Super Easy Weeknight Pasta

My dearest William works a TON. He works his ass off day in and day out. I am so proud of him and his amazing work ethic, but this doesn’t leave much time for lengthy prep and hours of cook time for weeknight meals. I am always looking for meals that are quick, healthy, and infused with lots of flavor.

One of Will’s favorite things in the world is sausage. Our local market has different flavors of chicken sausage every week. Whole Foods always carries these as well, as I am sure many other markets do. They are delicious! We have had flavors like spinach and feta, garlic,  and even Gorgonzola with cranberry. This week we happened to have chicken sausage with artichokes and pepper jack in our freezer.

There are many different ways we use these tasty sausages (I’ll be sure to keep you guys posted on all of them), but this week we wanted to have them with pasta. As I normally do, I went on a quick Google search for a light healthy sauce to pair with this dish. I may have come across one of the best, most simple little sauces I have ever made.

So here is the recipe as it appears on Food Network.

Spaghetti with Oil and Garlic (Aglio Et Olio)

Kosher salt; to taste + 1 tsp
1 lb spaghetti
3 cloves garlic minced
.5 cup Olive Oil
Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes
2 Tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley
.5 lemon zested
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Regianno

Bring salted water in a pot to a boil over high heat. Once boiled, drop the pasta. Cook pasta until al dente.

While pasta is cooking, put olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and 1 tsp salt in a small sauce pot. Cook over low heat for about 8 minutes, or until garlic turns golden brown.

Now there is more to this recipe, but this is where I stopped. I hardly ever follow a recipe in its entirety. I like to put my own spin on the meal, and it  really all depends on what ingredients I have in the refrigerator/pantry.  For instance, I did not even have parsley on hand. Another important thing to note is that when Will and I make a meal, we normally cook for 2 because we HATE wasting food. It is just an unacceptable habit when there are so many people that go hungry each day (okay, rant over). So, with that said, we only used half a box of QUINOA (tastes just like real pasta and is way healthier) Rotini pasta- not even spaghetti. We cut that 1/2 cup of olive oil to a  1/4 cup, sprinkled a  few shakes of red pepper flakes, and added way more garlic than was called for.

When the pasta was finished cooking I drained it, put it all into a Pyrex bowl, and poured the deliciously aromatic garlic sauce over the noodles. While Will was finishing up the sausage and sauteing some spinach and baby kale, I put a little lemon zest and grated cheese on the pasta and mixed the deliciousness all together. Will added the sausage and spinach/kale mixture. We divided the dish onto two plates, and grated a little more cheese on top ;).

All I can say is YUM. Will kept saying “I wish there was more!” He even licked his plate. I highly recommend!