I planned on making this with angel hair pasta but I happened to have a bag of rigati left from last week's octopus and it occurred to me that Chorizo and greens might need a more robust pasta than angel hair. I was right so use a rotini or large macaroni type pasta if you can't find rigati. This is a truly restorative pasta after a hard day at work and one that fits into the 20-minute challenge category with no problem at 18:22: an added bonus.
4 links Chorizo sausage
1 yellow onion
4 cups chopped mixed greens (I used a combination of baby kale and spinach)
4 portions uncooked pasta (pasta portions are highly subjective in my opinion)
1 lb cherry tomatoes
1 Tbps olive oil
2 Tbsps butter
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or piment d'Espelette
Salt to taste
Preheat the oven to 350.
Place a large pan of salted water over high heat while you start making the sauce.
Get your tomatoes for the blistered tomatoes in the oven. I used cherry tomatoes on the vine for this recipe because it is what I had, and it was very pretty, but you could use regular loose cherry tomatoes and save yourself the additional step of having to remove them from the vine to add to the sauce. This would save you and additional 30 seconds on this 20-minute challenge!
Peel and chop the onion and put it and the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
As soon as the onion is fragrant and starting to soften - a couple of minutes - add the Chorizo. Cut each link in half, remove the casing and break the sausage forcemeat into small pieces as you add it to the pan. Cook, stirring from time to time until the meat is cooked through. Add your paprika and pepper flakes (if using). Stir to combine and lower the heat.
By this point, your pasta water should be boiling away so add the dry pasta to the water and cook for one minute less than indicated on the label. In the case of rigati, this will give then you ten minutes to make a salad, have a glass of wine, or change into your PJs (while keeping an eye on your sauce and tomatoes).
While the pasta is cooking, and before you go and change into your PJs, add all of the greens to the pan with the Chorizo. Let it wilt for a couple of minutes on top of the other ingredients and then stir in the semi-wilted greens to combine.
By this time, it should be time to turn the broiler on to finish the tomatoes. A minute later, remove them from the oven and, using the tines of a fork, pull them off the vine, straight into the sauce. Stir to combine, breaking them up as you do.
Add 3 ladles worth of pasta water to the sauce as well as the butter. While this melts, drain the pasta and return it to the pan in which it was cooked.
Pour the sauce over the pasta and, over low heat, stir well, until the pasta is thoroughly coated with the sauce.
Divide into 4 bowls and serve at once. Pure comfort food in less than 20 minutes.