Satisfy your carb cravings with this healthy pasta dish filled with flavor-packed Italian sausage, eggplant and kale.
Last week I gave you a glimpse inside a typical Door to Door Organics order so today I’m sharing a quick and easy recipe that uses a few items from our box. After chatting with several friends, I quickly learned that my family probably eats more fruits and vegetables than the typical American family. Trust me, I get it.
So, I figured that if I was going to take the time to recommend signing up for a weekly produce delivery service, it only makes sense that I also show you HOW to use up all of those gorgeous fruits and vegetables. After all, the key to being able to maintain long term healthy eating habits is having the tools and knowledge to put those good intentions into actions.
Today’s recipe is more of a method than a specific guideline. As always, I encourage you to mix and match with whatever you have on hand. We happened to order spicy organic pork sausage through Door to Door Organics but you are welcome to swap it out with chicken sausage, turkey sausage, you name it. Kale and eggplant work really well in this pasta but so would mushrooms, zucchini or asparagus.
Make it your own and have fun getting in the kitchen.
Your fork is waiting.
Sausage, Eggplant and Kale Pasta
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces whole wheat pasta or pasta of choice
- 12 ounces uncooked Italian pork sausage or turkey/chicken sausage
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic grated
- 1 eggplant skin on & cubed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes optional
- 4 cups torn kale we used purple kale but any type works
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
- 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
Instructions:
- Prepare pasta according to package instructions reserving 1 cup of starchy cooking liquid.
- Heat a large non-stick sauté pan over medium-high and spray with cooking spray. Add sausage and begin to break down with a wooden spoon while it browns, 8-10 minutes. Remove browned sausage from pan and set aside.
- To the warm pan, add olive oil and garlic. Heat for 30 seconds before adding eggplant. salt and chili flakes. Sauté eggplant until softened, 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Add reserved pasta cooking liquid and use wooden spoon to scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in kale and cook 2-3 minutes or until wilted.
- Return cooked sausage and pasta to the pan and cook until heated through, 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in parmesan and parsley before serving. Check for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
Chef's Notes:
Nutrition Facts:
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Kirsten
Liz,
Thanks for this recipe! I’ve added it to the Farm Fresh Feasts Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me who love to eat from the farm share.
I appreciate your help in making this index better!
Rachel H
Had eggplant and kale lying in my fridge, and googled a recipe and this popped up. Eating it atm, and its delicious!!
Liz DellaCroce
I’m so glad you found the recipe and I’m so glad you like it!!
Sally T.
I have to eat veggies and fruits as I have celiacs,I love the fact
that they deliver,as sometimes I am so sick it is hard for me
to get out all of the time.I usually incorporate mushrooms,onions,spinach
into my rice and tomatoes on my salads with apples, dried cranberries,cucumbers.I just bought fresh strawberries so I make a spinach
salad with walnuts and pears.
It is not hard when you learn how to eat so many different things~snacks are
raw carrots and celery.
Cynthia Gastelum
Veggies and Fruits make for easy snacks in my house. My daughter loves fresh strawberries and cherry tomatoes.
Christina
I make sure a vegetable is the dominant component of my lunches and dinners, and have fruit everyday with breakfast and for dessert!
Sally T.
When I was little my Dad and Mom would have to force feed me veggies,
now that I have grown up~I can not get enough,and I love to eat them
raw,especially grn.beans.I love broccoli,and I incorporate
a lot of my veggies into morning noon and night.I have Celiacs so
I have to be careful with gluten.It now is just a way of life for me,and
you just learn to ENJOY.
Karen Lynch
I make stir frys and am trying to make grain based based salads with produce in it.
april
Our family incorporates fruits and veggies but having plenty on hand to snack on…a full fruit bowl on the counter and crunchy raw veggies cut and ready in the fridge.
Kristen Varner
I’m the summer we belong to a csa. We eat at least one fruit or vegetable at each meal.
Sarah J.
We try to eat fruit and veggies at every meal and at snacks. Our favorite is peanut butter and banana ice cream. Those are the only two ingredients and it’s delicious!
Christine from Cook the Story
I love everything about this dish! Absolutely fabulous!
katy
I add veggie to every meal: salads, soups, roasted, or steamed. I love fruits; we eat them plain raw (sliced).
Ashley Trail
We incorporate more veggies and fruits with each meal by buying more fresh stuff. If I have it I will find ways to use it, I love trying new things and I personally eat at least one salad a day as a meal, and there are all kinds of ways to get creative with that :)
Kristen
We have a side salad with most dinners we cook at home!
Kate
We try to make sure we have fruit and/or a veggie at every meal! Smoothies and salads are the easiest way to get more in.
Phi @ The Sweetphi Blog
This is totally my kind of recipe Liz-simple, one can substitute ingredients one has in, and sounds (and looks) totally delicious! I will definitely be trying it!
I love to make sauces out of vegetables (Roasted Red Pepper or Cauliflower sauces for example) when I need to use up vegetables or throwing them in pasta, like you’ve done here :)
Thanks for doing this awesome giveaway, I’d love to win and order a box of wonderful fruits and veggies to be delivered at my moms house in Chicago!
Carrie
Smoothies are definitely the easiest way to sneak veggies into the kids. Both of my kids love avocados, so if I feel like they haven’t gotten enough veggies one day, I just cut one in half and let them eat it with a spoon.
Carol at Wild Goose Tea
I am with the comment that my attention was captured as soon as I read eggplant. I suspect I would use spinach instead of kale, but as you noted there are lots of wonderful mix and match choices. I have become quite fond of whole wheat noodles. I tried them for a change of pace only. Then found my preference leaning in that direction.
Marina
I mean I could eat fruits and veggies plain and raw all day long, but I love incorporating veggies like kale and spinach in my soups, stews, and pasta dishes, Also, vegan Hawaiian pizza is SO GOOD. Yay for pineapple!
Megan {Country Cleaver}
This is heavenly Liz – I’m totally digging the greens and pasta – that way I don’t have to feel guilty about my pasta obsession when it’s speckled with that gorgeous kale!
Joanne
It’s like an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pasta! I love how it’s so veggie-filled. Which is my favorite way to eat pasta!
Jessica Arena
We’re working on getting more fruits and veggies into our diets. Right now we’re starting our days with green shakes, which is helping a lot!
Cassandra D
My family eats salad and fruits once daily..
Ariel
We start the week off right with a lovely trip to the Farmer’s market down the road. Every meal we overload on veggies. Soups, juices, salads. You name it! The more, the merrier!
klynn
We try to incorporate fruits and veggies into our diet as much as possible. Whenever I can, I sneak it into the kids food (ground up very fine if I can).
Kaci
We make green smoothies in our Vitamix every morning!
Cynthia P
We very much like to incorporate fruits and vegetables into our meals and love to eat them for snacks as well, especially ones which we have grown ourselves!
Kobi Hensley
I mix them into things to get my family to eat them…like fruit into yogurt, veggies into pasta, etc.
alona y
We eat either fruit or veggie with every meal and try to cook dinners with no meat pretty often. Our 12 month old eats steamed veggies of all sorts as part of every meal and usually that or fruit for snacks. I love how many things you can do with veggies, there are so many kinds.