I’m already anxious about decorating for next Christmas. This year’s theme was ‘gilver’, a combination of gold and silver. I really loved the glitter and sparkle.
For lunch, I made myself a nice bowl of orecchiette pasta with a creamy turkey sauce. A light and low calorie pasta dish. The sauce had the right touch of wine, and you can never go wrong with fresh arugula.
This pasta does not take long to cook. Be sure to prep all of your ingredients before you start the cooking process. Unfortunately, I started my sauce before cutting the cherry tomatoes and it caused me to cook my sauce a bit too long. Luckily, it still turned out perfect.
Cooking and eating this pasta dish was a nice break from working so hard on taking down all of those Christmas ornaments. Now I have all year to plan next year’s theme….I’m thinking of a White Christmas.
Serves 6 as starter, 3 as a main
3 cups orecchiette pasta, cooked according to package
1 red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1-pint cherry tomatoes, halved
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-pound lean Italian turkey sausage, sweet or spicy, casing removed
½ cup white wine
1 cup half & half
2 cups arugula
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated Percorino Romano, to serve
Start boiling the water for the pasta.
In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and add onion, cook until softened and slightly browned. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, approximately 30 seconds. Crumble in the turkey sausage and continue to break up with a wooden spoon, continue frying until browned. Now add the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes, then add the wine, let it bubble for a few moments, add the cream.
At this point, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. Do not strain.
Continue to cook the turkey sauce for approximately 5 minutes, then using a strainer, add the pasta (and a little pasta water) to the sauce. Add the arugula and cook until wilted and the pasta coated in the sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with grated Percorino on top.
megan @ whatmegansmaking says
This sounds like a great, quick meal! Beautiful pictures too 🙂
notoriousexperiments says
This looks so delicious, but simple! I love recipes like this 🙂
Where do you get orecchiette pasta from?
Dori says
Most grocery markets carry orrecchiette pasta. Try Gelsons or Ralphs. Try shell pasta too.
rainbirdlaugh says
How did you get that it was 95 calories per serving? A serving of turkey sausage alone is 125 calories, when divided by 6. I calculated that it was about 450 calories per serving (for 6 servings).
Dori says
Hello Rainbirdlaugh, you are correct and thank you for brining this to my attention. I had the wrong calorie counter posted and have now made the corrections. It is 254 calories per serving. My goal is to keep the calories under 500 per serving. I used lean turkey Italian sausage in this recipe.
Mia McCaulley says
This was delicious, I loved the hot juicy tomato in the sauce and the fresh pecorino really brought it all together. Thanks for the delicious recipe 🙂
Dori Grasska says
Hello Mia, Thank you for your feedback. I’m so glad that you enjoyed it.
Anonymous says
This was so yummy! And it reheated great. Will definitely make again- thanks for sharing!
Dori Grasska says
I’m so glad that you enjoyed this dish as much as I did! I reheated it too!