Boil the water
Fill a large pot with water, add plenty of Salt, and bring it to a full boil over high heat. You want the water well seasoned so the pasta is flavored from the inside out.
Prep the vegetables
While the water heats, finely slice the Onion, slice the Garlic, and chop the Tenderstem Broccoli into bite-sized pieces so it cooks quickly and mixes evenly through the pasta.
Prep the sausage
Remove the skins from the Pork and Fennel Sausages, then crumble the meat into small rough pieces with your fingers. Keeping the pieces fairly small helps them brown well and cling to the pasta later.
Cook the pasta
Add the Orecchiette to the boiling water and cook until al dente, following the packet timing as a guide. Give it a stir at the start so it doesn’t stick together.
Brown the sausage
Set a large frying pan over medium heat and add the sausage meat. Cook it, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until it is deeply golden and crisp around the edges, with plenty of browned bits forming on the pan.
Soften the aromatics
Add the sliced onion and garlic to the pan with the sausage and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until the onion softens and the garlic smells fragrant without taking on too much color. Stir in the Chilli Flakes for the last brief moment so they bloom in the fat.
Add broccoli and deglaze
Stir the chopped broccoli into the pan, then ladle in a splash of the pasta cooking water. Scrape the bottom of the pan well to lift all the browned bits, and cook until the broccoli turns bright green and is just tender but still has a little bite.
Drain and reserve water
Scoop out and reserve about a mug of the pasta water, then drain the pasta well.
Toss into a sauce
Add the drained pasta to the pan along with the Butter and a little more reserved pasta water. Toss everything together vigorously until the butter melts and the liquid turns glossy, coating the pasta and sausage evenly.
Finish and serve
Take the pan off the heat and mix in the Parmesan and a squeeze of Lemon Juice. Finish with Black Pepper, taste, and add a little more salt if needed, then serve straight away while it’s silky and hot.
