Baked Orecchiette Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Combine cherry tomatoes, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, and garlic in a large, 3-quart baking dish. Drizzle generously with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with pepper flakes, sea salt, and black pepper. Stir to coat everything. Make a well in the center of the dish and drop in the ricotta cheese. Drizzle the ricotta with remaining olive oil and give it a generous pinch more of pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Switch the oven to broil at 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) and continue to cook until desired blistering and browning occurs, 2 to 4 minutes more.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook orecchiette in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until tender yet firm to the bite, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water.
• Remove the baked ricotta dish from the oven and place onto a wire cooling rack.
• Add thyme leaves, then stir the ricotta to break it up. Stir in fresh basil, parsley, and lemon juice. Add the reserved pasta water to loosen things up if needed. Taste and adjust salt if desired. Add the orecchiette and stir until everything is coated. Serve.

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion with a pinch of salt in hot oil until onion is soft and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir sausage into onions; cook and stir until sausage is broken up and browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Pour 1 1/2 cups chicken broth into sausage mixture and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add orecchiette pasta; cook and stir pasta in hot broth, adding remaining broth when liquid is absorbed, until pasta is cooked through and most of the broth is absorbed, about 15 minutes.
• Stir arugula into pasta-sausage mixture until arugula wilts. Ladle pasta into bowls and dust with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.