• 1 pound orecchiete
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 1 bag Palmetto Gardens collard greens, stems removed
• ¼ cup good sherry, white wine or chicken broth
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup reserved pasta water
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Grated Pecorino Romano

1. Start a pot of water to cook the pasta, and season it generously with a TBSP or so of kosher salt. Reserve one cup of pasta water after cooking.

2. Sauté the Italian sausage, breaking it into bite-sized pieces as is cooks. Once browned, remove the sausage with a slotted spoon.

3. Add the collard greens and minced garlic to the pan, stirring to coat them with pan drippings from the sausage. Add the sherry (or wine or broth) to the pan, scraping up any brown bits. Set the heat to medium-low and place a lid on the pan so that the collards will steam and braise in the sherry. Stir occasionally adding more liquid if necessary. Once the collards are tender, add the halved cherry tomatoes and stir until they release their liquid and soften a bit.

4. Add the sausage back into the pan and add the orecchiette. Stir in about ½ a cup of the reserved pasta water. Add more pasta water as necessary to pull the ingredients together with the pasta.

5. Season to taste with crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and top with grated Pecorino Romano for serving.  

Recipe courtesy of Kenton, @kitchenriffin!