Ziti with Sausage Lemon and Sage explodes with earthy, vibrant flavor, and is equally wonderful with or without the sausage. This is easy comfort food the whole family loves, ready in 30 minutes!
Writing the title for a recipe can be a little bit like making a speech at the Oscars….you want to fit everybody in but sometimes it’s impossible… in this case, beautiful crunchy toasted walnuts, a whole cup of them, didn’t get a mention, but don’t count them out, they add so much to this happy, yummy family style pasta. It won’t win any awards for its looks, but nobody will care. Think hot spicy chunks of Italian sausage, tons of fresh sage sizzled up in some browned butter, fresh lemon juice, cream, Asiago cheese, those walnuts, and copious amounts of parsley…oh, and ziti. Now if you can resist that you’re not human.
I’d say most of the ingredients in this Ziti with Sausage Lemon and Sage are equally important, but there is a hero — the fresh sage, and lots of it. It gives the dish an aromatic, earthy flavor that makes it stand out from the ordinary. I look for that in a recipe, something that will bring a new experience to the table. And if you think of sage as a powdery dried herb that’s the background note in stuffing, you owe it to yourself to experience the fresh stuff. The leaves are velvety soft and cushiony, it’s a fun herb to work with. You’ll need a nice bunch of it for this recipe.
This recipe is adapted from the great Yotam Ottolenghi. It’s a variation of a recipe in Plenty More. I made it with and without the sausage and both were fantastic. I highly recommend it.
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Ziti with Sausage Lemon and Sage
Ingredients
Instructions
- Put the walnuts in a cast iron skillet or other heavy skillet and toast over medium heat until you start to smell them and they begin to brown, stirring constantly. This will take about 10 minutes or so. Cool slightly and then give them a rough chop. Set aside.
- Remove the sausage meat from the casing and brown over medium heat until there is no pink left. Set aside.
- Cook the ziti according to package directions, to just shy of al dente. I usually cook my pasta a good 2 minutes short of what the package says.
- Pluck the sage leaves off their stems and finely slice them. You should have at least 1/3 - 1/2 cup.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet (big enough to hold the final dish) over a good medium high heat and add the sage. Let the sage sizzle and cook for two minutes, just until the butter begins to brown, Stir fairly constantly.
- Lower the heat and add the cream, stirring to combine. Add salt and pepper, sausage, and walnuts to the pan.
- When the pasta is just tender, drain and add it to the sauce, reserving a little of the cooking liquid.
- Toss well with lemon juice, cheese, and parsley and heat through. Add a little more cream, or some of the reserved cooking liquid if the sauce seems skimpy. Taste and add salt, pepper, or more lemon juice.
Don’t forget to pin this Ziti with Sausage Lemon and Sage!
more cozy pasta to love…
SPAGHETTI WITH TUNA, LEMON, AND DILL
WHOLE GRAIN PASTA WITH PISTACHIO PESTO
Give it 5 stars. Our own ranking is “Winner” the highest we give. I will make this again, but next time with ziti. We had penne on hand but only 1/2 lb so went with cellentani which was fine, but ziti is up next.
Sue, thank you for all your recipes. Your Apple Cider Donut Cake is on the menu yet this week. I have made it numerous times. I’ve never had a “fail” with your recipes.
Thanks so much Barb, you’ve definitely brightened my week 🙂
I made this and it was pretty tasty. I loved the zing of the lemon. The sauce is really good. I feel like you could easily adapt the recipe and have it turn out well. I want to try it next time with pine nuts. I made it with sweet sausage to make it more palatable to toddlers. I think I should have cooked some garlic with the sage to make up for the loss of flavor. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Thanks Sophia — I love the idea of pine nuts, they make everything better 😉
This looks great, and I bet it smells incredible. I’m allergic to walnuts and pecans, can you recommend another nut you think might work well, or should I just omit them?
You can definitely omit them Kathryn…the only other nut I might suggest is pine nuts.
or pistachios?
This sounds wonderful. I love dishes like this – straightforward flavors, some zing and lots of texture. Plus it is nice to see the Asiago. I always enjoy that cheese. Brava!
You put it so well, Adri!
Hi Sue, I can easily see this being a family favorite, looks delicious!
This recipe looks simply awesome, I love those kind of natural, countryside pastas full of taste 🙂
What happens to the walnuts? Are they just garnish?
I omitted that, Tabitha, and just fixed it, thanks. They go in with the sausage.
I had to smile at your comment about the Oscars and recipe titles. So true! Sometimes I think that I need to eliminate something or it will be too long – LOL. This is my kind of comfort food. So delicious and hearty – just what I’m craving.
Ha ha! I totally hear you on that, my recipe titles always end up so long and yet somehow something has been left out. This looks SO delicious, I am down with anything that involves fresh sage leaves these days 😉
Fantastic flavour! I would love some too, Sue.