orecchiette pasta recipe

Orecchiette Pasta with asparagus, fresh peas, mushrooms and herbs in a very light carbonara sauce, topped with pillowy burrata cheese.

Orecchiette with Fresh Peas, Asparagus and Burrata

oz Orecchiette pasta

Quarts water

Salt

peas

snow peas or sugar peas

asparagus tips (optional)

——-

olive oil

onion- diced

garlic cloves, rough chopped

mushrooms

wilting greens- dandelion, arugula, chard, spinach – chopped

salt

cracked pepper

Eggs, whisked

burrata cheese- optional

lemon lemon

Cook the Pasta

 Bring a large pot with 4 quarts water and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil. When water comes to a boil, add pasta and cook to al dente, about 7 minutes ( or see directions on package). During the last minute of cooking the pasta, add the fresh peas, sugar peas and asparagus tips to the boiling pasta, turn the heat up to high and quickly blanch for one minute. Drain the pasta and veggies (reserving 1-2 cups hot pasta water). Do not rinse. Return to the pot, turn heat off.

While the pasta is cooking, saute the mushrooms: In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Sauté the onion until tender and fragrant, 3-4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and garlic, and saute until golden and tender 7-8 minutes.  Add a pinch of  salt and pepper. Add greens and sauté, stirring often until just wilted. Set pan aside.

Whisk two eggs

Temper the Eggs

. Once the pasta is drained and back in the pot,  gradually whisk in 3 tablespoons of the reserved hot pasta water, one tablespoon at a time into the eggs, to temper the eggs (to warm them up gently- so they don&#8217;t curdle). Stir well.

COMBINE: 

Pour tempered eggs over the pasta and with a big wood spoon, gently stir to coat the pasta. Stir in the mushrooms, half of the lemon zest and half of the fresh the herbs, cracked pepper and parmesan, adding more hot pasta water as needed to loosen the pasta,  and make it a  &#8220;saucy&#8221;.  You don&#8217;t want this dry. I usually add a cup or more.

Taste and adjust salt and pepper to your liking.

Place on a platter or bowl and sprinkle with remaining herbs, lemon zest. Dot with dollops of burrata cheese.

Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Sauce - a simple vegetarian pasta dish hailing from Tuscany that is easy to make, healthy and oh so delicious!

Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Sauce 

broccoli florets-

short pasta- orecchiette pasta, penne, rigatoni, etc

shallot,

garlic cloves- rough chopped

chili flakes

salt and pepper, more to taste

miso paste (or sub 1-2 mashed anchovies)

veggie broth or chicken broth

lemon zest

Steam small broccoli florets until very tender (easily pierced with a fork)and set aside.

Cook the pasta in 8 cups water with 1 tablespoon salt (measure),  Save a cup of hot pasta water when you drain.

In a large pan, saute the shallot and garlic and chili flakes in the olive oil, over medium heat until fragrant and golden, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the miso paste (or anchovy), then add steamed broccoli,  salt, pepper and the broth.

Bring to a gentle simmer and start breaking apart the broccoli with a metal spatula into tiny pieces. As it cooks it will get easier to break apart. You want the broccoli to basically melt down into a &#8220;sauce&#8221;.  Continue simmering gently on low heat until half of the liquid evaporates and it becomes the consistency of a thick sauce, about 10-15 minutes.

If it seems watery and separated, just keep cooking it down. It won&#8217;t be smooth- but just broken down and very very tender.

Add the pasta. Toss well. Add more hot pasta water to keep it &#8221; saucy.&#8221; Add the lemon zest.

Taste for salt, adjust, adding more along with pepper, chili flakes. If you want more richness add another splash of olive oil (or pat of butter- my husband loves this). Stir in some optional pecorino.

Divide among pasta bowls and top with any of the garnishes you like. Grated Parmesan or pecorino  adds depth,basil ribbons add flavor, and a drizzle of truffle oil elevates.

My wife and I have been making this recipe once a week for the last year. 

Slight alterations: we steam the broccoli in a pressure cooker, and add a little extra garlic and chili.

One of our favourite all-time recipes, thanks for publishing!

I see some people complaining in the comments about losing the vibrant green color. A simple solution is to add a quarter teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate to the steaming water. And there you have it. Emerald green broccoli!

Very nice. Even for my meat eater husband :)

Easy and delicious.  I added all optional ingredients except truffle oil and anchovie paste, and only pecorino cheese, however to me something was missing, I added organic fire roasted diced tomatoes and voila perfecto! Will be having once a week from now on,  thank you!

This was so delicious! I kept it vegan and my meat eating husband kept commenting on how good it was. We topped ours with lemon zest and kalamata olives. This will be a regular in our house. Thank you for the great recipe.

This rocks. Even my picky, non-vegetable loving kid ate it!

My kid loves this recipe (though i leave out the lemon for her) and is a great way to get her to eat healthy. She regularly asks for seconds and thirds! 

I'm surprised to see so much fat listed in the nutritional info - where is it coming from?

I love this recipe, great for meal prep for work. I stir in baby spinach and green peas at the end , the peas give it a pop of flavour. Make this every month in big batches. Thank you !

This really just was not enjoyable in any way.

Thank you, finally someone who has recipes for us who are trying to eat more plant based meals. So many of the Vegetarian recipes are to over board with items that the rest of us are not familiar with and we don't want to spend a lot of money buying if we aren't going to like it. Additionally someone who posts the nutritional values, with so many people on diets I think that it is adding to the problem because many people have no ideal how many calories are in a recipe. I saw a recipe the other day that looked healthy and sounded good but it had over 800 calories in a serving and this wasn't a Keto recipes. Love your site

Turned out really well.  I added ground pork to it and a little whole milk at the end to make it creamy.  Great way to "bury" some broccoli in dinner.  It is impossible to pick it out!.  My 11 year-old son loved it.

Dude... I made this and it was amazing. Cooked the broccoli in the sauce instead of steaming ahead of time and added a small hit of cashew cream... amazing. Thanks for the excellent recipe!

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/mXhs2DnA.mp4

A simple delicious vegetarian recipe for Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Sauce – full of flavor and nutrients! 

This is one of my husband's all time favorites now! We make it about twice a month and finish it with home made pesto. The red pepper flakes gives it a nice kick and the miso adds depth. It's great leftover too!

Wow!   Such a great recipe to use broccoli as a pasta sauce.  So healthy and I noted some comments that after cooking the steamed broccoli in the sauce to break it up the bright green color was diminished.  I added a “pop” of green of a cup of frozen peas to the sauce for about a minute to upped the green theme.

Delicious, nutritious, and easy to make! Made for great leftovers, too!

Nicely explained. Clearly written instructions.

I ran across this recipe while searching ramdomly for something vegetarian to cook a few days ago.  After making sure I had all the ingredients, I made it last night.  It was absolutely delicious, worthy of 5 stars.  I had to adapt the recipe to accomodate a low-FODMAP diet, so I cut out the fresh garlic and shallot and used a garlic-infused olive oil instead. I opted for anchovies (I fudged a little bit here), toasted pine nuts, Kalamata olives, and added small cocktail tomatoes because we love tomatoes.  I added a dry cheese I had on hand and the whole dish was PERFECT!  I also copied a few Mexican recipes from this site this morning,  I'll let you know how it goes.

This is honestly my most favourite recipe ever, I make it all the time!

Orecchiette with Garlicky Kale and Breadcrumbs;  a hearty, flavor-packed pasta ready in about 45 minutes. *Just about any pasta will work here, including gluten free! I like how the little orecchiette cup  the capers and breadcrumbs. This recipe is vegetarian, easily vegan and gluten free.

Orecchiette with Garlicky Kale and Breadcrumbs

tsp Sea Salt (divided,

C (75 grams) Fresh Breadcrumbs (**see note)

Tbs Olive Oil (Divided)

Cloves of Garlic (, microplaned, about 2 tsp)

Tbs Unsalted Butter (, use vegan butter

Tbs Capers (drained)

tsp Red Pepper Flakes

oz (225 grams) Pasta (, I

C (36 grams) Grated Parmesan (*** (see note)

Lemon

Put a large stock pot of water on to bring to a boil. Once boiling, working in two batches, blanch the kale for 4 minutes. Remove from the pot with tongs, setting it aside on a sheet pan to cool. Reserve the water for cooking the pasta. Once the kale is cool, press out as much water as possible and chop into bite size pieces. Set aside.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, mix fresh breadcrumbs with 2 Tbs of olive oil and 1/4 tsp salt in a large 10&quot; (25cm) skillet (with high sides - 2 1/2&quot; to 3&quot; (6cm)). Toast breadcrumbs on medium-low for about 5 minutes tossing and moving the breadcrumbs around in the pan two or three times. Add 1/2 the garlic and stir, pressing the garlic in, and moving the breadcrumbs around the pan for another 2-3 minutes or until golden and crunchy. Season with a few grinds of pepper. Transfer to paper towels on a plate to soak up any oil. Set aside. Wipe out the pan (you&#39;ll use it to make the sauce) and set aside. 

Bring the kale water back to a boil, adding more water if needed, add a heavy pinch of salt and cook the pasta according to package directions or until al dente. If using orecchiette, the little pieces of pasta tend to stick together. Stir several times while cooking to separate the spooners! Drain the pasta, reserving at least 2 C (470g) of pasta water. 

Meanwhile, in the same skillet used to toast the breadcrumbs, heat the butter and remaining 2 Tbs of olive oil on medium-low until melted. Add capers and pepper flakes. Mash the capers, gently (I use the bottom of a heat proof jar - like a canning jar). Cook, mashing for about 2 minutes. The sauce will begin to thicken. Add the remaining garlic, cooking another minute, stirring. Add the kale, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/2 C (118g) of water to the caper mixture, stirring 2-3 minutes to heat through.

To Assemble: Add the drained pasta to the kale mixture plus about 1/2 C (118g) of pasta water, stirring, adding more pasta water until the pasta is glossy. I add about 1 1/2 C total, but if you feel the pasta could use more, add about 1/4 C more at a time.  Stir in the parmesan and breadcrumbs, and squeeze 1/2 a lemon over the pasta. Stir. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. Serve immediately with extra breadcrumbs, lemon wedges, fresh ground black pepper and parmesan for sprinkling on the side. 

Orecchiette with Sausage and Peas is a delicious blend of pasta, pork sausage, and peas. It is simple to make and a perfect weeknight meal.

Orecchiette with Sausage and Peas

dry orecchiette pasta

lb pork sausage

shallot (minced)

garlic (minced)

½ tsp red pepper flakes

salt and pepper (to taste)

lemon (for juice)

Parmesan cheese (for garnish)

Cook

Boil a pot of salted water for the orecchiette pasta. Once boiling, cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

While the water is boiling, cook the sausage. In a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat, cook the sausage until browned and cooked through. Remove the sausage from the pan and drain the fat. 

Heat

Place the frozen peas in a microwave-safe bowl with the recommended amount of water (on the package) and cook according to package instructions.

Heat the non-stick pan used to cook the sausage over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. Pour in the minced shallots and garlic, cook for approximately 3 minutes. Stir in the red pepper flakes. 

Season

Return the sausage to the pan along with the cooked pasta and peas. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the mixture and season with salt and pepper. Stir until everything is well incorporated. Heat over medium-low heat until heated through.

Serve

Remove from heat and serve with parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

One Pot Lemon Ricotta Orecchiette Pasta

orecchiette pasta

whole milk ricotta

cheese,

garlic,

sea salt

black pepper

red pepper flakes (optional)

lemon juice

extra virgin olive oil

walnuts, roughly chopped

lemon

flat leaf parsley, diced

salt and black pepper

For the walnut herb topping, begin by adding 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1/2 cup of walnuts in a large skillet over medium heat. Toast for 3 minutes, until the walnuts smell like popcorn. Remove from the heat and add lemon zest, diced fresh parsley and a healthy pinch of salt and black pepper. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside. 

Fill the large skillet with water and return to a high heat burner. Salt the water generously and, once boiling, cook your pasta for 1-2 minutes less than package directions.

While the pasta cooks, combine your lemon ricotta mixture in a bowl, including the fresh ricotta, lemon zest, parmesan, grated garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper and red pepper flakes (if using). When the pasta is just about al dente, use a measuring cup or ladle to reserve one cup of the salted pasta water. Then drain the pasta and set it aside. 

Return the skillet to the heat along with 1/2 cup pasta water Add the warm cooked pasta back into the pan, along with the lemon ricotta pasta sauce mixture. Toss quickly to combine and allow the sauce to heat through and thicken - about 2 minutes. Squeeze a half of a lemon juice into the pasta and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning. 

Serve with sliced fresh lemons, lemon zest and dust with toasted walnut herb topping. 

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Top 6 orecchiette pasta recipe recipes from across the web

The most viewed orecchiette pasta recipe recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Orecchiette with Fresh Peas, Aspara...

Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Sau...

Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Sau...

Orecchiette with Garlicky Kale and ...

Orecchiette with Sausage and Peas

One Pot Lemon Ricotta Orecchiette P...

The most viewed orecchiette pasta recipe recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine