Cavatelli with Hot Italian Sausage and Sage Browned Butter

Cavatelli with Hot Italian Sausage and Sage Browned Butter

1 lb. fresh cavatelli pasta or fresh orecchiette
1 lb. hot Italian sausage
9 tablespoons salted butter
6 - 8 sage leaves
Ground white pepper
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped

Place the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1 cup of water to the skillet. After 10 minutes, flip the sausages over and simmer for an additional 5 minutes adding more water to the skillet as the water evaporates. Remove the sausages and slice them into 1/2-inch thick slices.
Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the skillet and turn the heat to medium-high. After a minute, add the sausage slices in an even layer and let them cook until deeply browned. Flip and brown them on the other side. When the sausage slices browned, remove them from the pan and place them on a paper towel-lined plate and return the pan to the burner.
Salt a large pot of water and place it on high heat; bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the water and cook about 5 minutes. You are using fresh pasta so it will only need a few minutes to cook.
Turn the heat to medium-high and add the sage, the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter, and season with the white pepper. As the butter melts, scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Continue to cook until the foam subsides, about 10 minutes. Cook the butter until it’s deeply browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes more.
Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta to the browned butter sauce and toss, adding a little bit of the reserved water until the sauce becomes rich. Add the sausage to the skillet and stir. Add the Romano cheese and stir again. Place the pasta and sausage into serving bowls and garnish with additional Romano cheese and sprinkle with parsley.

Footnotes - You will not be able to brown the sausage slices in one batch. After the first batch is done browning, add another tablespoon of butter and brown the other batch.

Recipe adapted from Frankie's Spuntino