This hearty Italian pasta dish has plenty of flavor without all the added fat of traditional pork sausage. Quick, easy and delicious!

This recipe was shared with me by a former coworker and I've been looking forward to making this for weeks because I'm a huge fan of escarole!

Not all chicken sausages are alike, so it's a good idea to know your butcher or the person making the sausage if possible. I sampled a few Italian chicken sausages from different stores before I found a favorite at a nearby Italian specialty store made with all white meat. Living in New York, I'm fortunate to have some great Italian resources nearby, if you can't find chicken sausage, turkey sausage would be perfectly fine. I had no nutritional info, so I used the nutritional info for Isernio Italian Chicken Sausage to calculate. If you can't find escarole, you could use Swiss chard or fresh spinach instead.


Pasta with Italian Chicken Sausage, Peppers and Escarole
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 1-1/2 cups • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 297.7 • Fat: 5.5 g • Protein: 20.6 g • Carb: 47.2 g • Fiber: 7.5 g • Sugar: 1.1 g

Ingredients:

• 12 oz Ronzoni Smart taste pasta (or whole wheat or low carb)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 lb Italian chicken sausage, removed from casing
• 1 medium head escarole, rinsed and torn into bite sized pieces
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:

Rinse escarole and tear into bite sized pieces.


Cook pasta in a large pot of salted water. Reserve 1 cup water before draining.

While pasta water boils, heat a large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Add olive oil; when hot add onions, peppers, garlic, salt and pepper.  


Cook until soft, about 4-5 minutes.  


Add escarole, cover and cook 2 minutes; remove the cover, stir and cook about 3 more minutes or until wilted. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
 

Add cooked pasta, red pepper flakes, reserved water and Parmigiano Reggiano, toss well and transfer to a large serving bowl. Serve immediately.