Pasta Mezzogiorno | Traditional Southern Italian dish with Sausage, Spicy Peppers, and Kale

A Southern Italian classic. The work “Mezzogiorno” translates to 12 o’clock. You can use any kind of noodle you’d like. Here I’m using linguine. As for the pork sausage, you can use mild or spicy, whatever you like. The peppers are Hungarian yellow peppers, and are sort of essential to the dish, and not easy to substitute. If you want the dish to be less spicy, you can remove some of the seeds from the peppers by slicing them lengthwise and cutting out the white pith. When beginning, go a little heavier on the oil since this is an oil and garlic based sauce. The pork sausage will render some fat but there should be plenty of fat to coat the noodles. The addition of pasta water contains starch, which will help the noodles bind to the sauce. Add more as you need.

• Olive Oil
• Pasta – 1 lb
• Italian Sausage, mild or hot – 2 links, taken out of the casing
• Kale – 3 cups, Stems removed and rough chopped
• Hungarian Yellow Peppers – 3ea, sliced
• Garlic – 1/2 cup, minced
• Pecorino Romano – about 3/4 cup, or as needed
• Chicken Stock – 1/2 cup

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In another large saucepan, over medium heat, add olive oil and saute sausage. After slightly brown, add the sliced peppers and saute 2 more minutes. Add kale and continue to saute for four more minutes, seasoning with salt as you add new items. At this point, drop your pasta in the boiling water. Add garlic and saute 2 more minutes. Add chicken stock and a couple of ladles of pasta cooking water to the pan. When the pasta is about 85% cooked, using a pair of tongs, transfer the pasta into the large saucepan with the sausage and kale. The pasta will finish cooking in this pan. Once the liquid cooks down a bit, add your pecorino romano cheese, and serve immediately.