Breakfast Sausage Pasta

I first made this recipe in 2018 - butttttt it's only lived on my IG highlights until today!! So excited to type it all up and get the recipe into a more formal, shareable space for you guys! It's a fun one!

I LOVE sausage gravy and I think it pairs so well with pasta and yolky egg. If you don't like spicy, you can obviously leave out the red pepper flakes. I don't want to hear any nonsense about how many calories must be in this dish - it's totally a cozy, treat yourself kind of meal!!

What you need:

• 1/2 lb rigatoni or other pasta of choice
• ~1 lb ground pork sausage
• 1 handful of torn sage leaves (about 8-10 leaves)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 4 grated or minced garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp salted butter
• 2 additional tbsp salted butter (for the roux)
• 1 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour (for the roux)
• 1 1/2 cup whole milk
• optional : poached egg topping
• optional : parmesan cheese topping

What to do:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil in order to cook the pasta.
2. Add the pork to a large and deep pot, season it with the sage, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic. Cook it with the 2 tbsp of butter until browned.
3. Create an opening in the center of your pot or pan by moving the ground sausage to the edges. Melt the additional butter in the open area. Add the flour to it and whisk to create a roux. Stir the roux in the center to cook it for a few minutes until it becomes thick and pasty. 
4. Add the whole milk to the roux and whisk. The sausage can be mixed back into the center of the pan at this point.
5. Continue to cook and stir the roux and milk on medium heat. It should thicken up and turn into a gravy. Once it's hit gravy status and texture, turn the heat to low and keep stirring it every few minutes until the pasta is done cooking. You may need to adjust the texture a bit by adding in a little more milk if things get super thickkkk.
6. Add the pasta to the sausage gravy - you may want to add in some reserved pasta water to thin out the gravy a bit!
7. Serve hot, love to serve mine with a poached egg and freshly grated parmesan cheese.