Rotini with Chicken Sausage aka "Cheaters Pasta"

After all the treats from the 4th, I needed a kitchen break but still craved the taste of a home cooked meal. I came across this recipe from Real Simple for a Pasta with Chicken Sausage & Broccoli and it seemed easy enough. I ended up skipping the broccoli only because I forgot to buy it at the store. Whoops.  There was also no real sauce with this dish and many of the comments said it tasted bland. So instead of trying to make something from scratch that I just had no energy for, I bought a jar of Wolf Gang Puck's Creamy Vodka Sauce and ya know what? It tasted great. This sauce could easily be substituted with your favorite flavor sauce. Sometimes taking the easy way out (hence the name) can be just as delicious! However, it wasn't ALL easy...

Rotini with Chicken Sausage aka "Cheaters Pasta"

Serves: 4

Cook time according to Real Simple: 20 mins

Cook time according to Rachel: 40 mins 

How difficult was this for Rachel to make? After making it once and seeing my mistakes, easy!

Ingredients:

12 ounces Rotini (or any pasta really)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 ounces chicken sausage
1 small head of broccoli cut into florets
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I used Wolf Gang Puck's Creamy Vodka)





Directions:


Cook pasta according to directions on box. While pasta is cooking, time to attack the chicken sausage.

The original directions start with the chicken sausage already fully cooked. Well, I am new to cooking with large sausages like these guys and so what did I do first?

I chopped it. After struggling to make clean slices, I googled how to cook chicken sausage. Yeah, don't chop the sausage first. Looking back now, this is just common sense. Whatever. 

Instead, throw the sausages into a skillet and cook on medium heat. These suckers took about 15 mins to cook. I don't know if that's normal, but that's how long it took for them to brown without burning.

Once browned, remove from heat. NOW is the time to slice them up. 

In the same skillet (I drained it) add olive oil and onions. Cook the onions on medium-high heat for about 3 mins until tender, but not burned. Add in chicken sausage slices. Continue cooking until sausage is completely cooked through and browned. 

What I skipped: Once sausage is browned, add in broccoli and 1 1/4 cups water and simmer covered until broccoli is tender, 5-6 mins.

Where I jumped back in: While chicken sausage is continuing to cook, in a medium sauce pan add the desired amount of pasta sauce and heat according to directions on the jar.

Once everything is cooked through, add sauce, noodles, and onion/chicken sausage and mix thoroughly. Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top.