Spaghetti with Sausage and Kale

This is supper tonight. Our Grocery Gateway order was bumped from this afternoon to Sunday (will we ever see it?!) so we can't have the burgers and fries originally on the menu. Then I remembered this forgiving pasta, and the single sausage and small portion of ground beef hanging out in the freezer. The real recipe is in Curtis Stone's What's For Dinner - and it is perfect. However, liberties can and will be taken. Fingers crossed!

Spaghetti with Sausage and Kale

8 oz sausage meat or other ground meat, seasoned like Italian sausage
1 or 2 large bunches of kale, stems removed, thinly sliced
1 lb spaghetti or fettuccini
1/2 cup olive oil (Curtis uses 3/4 cup - you could try it with even less than I do)
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp grated lemon zest (or substitute some of the olive oil for lemon olive oil)
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 oz freshly grated parmesan - I like it coarsely grated here
salt and pepper
optional: chili flakes

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add kale and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Scoop the kale out of the water with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Return water to boil and add spaghetti. Cook until tender. Drain, saving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown the meat, breaking it up as you go.  Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add 1/4 c of olive oil and garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, until garlic is fragrant. Stir in kale, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Add spaghetti and another 1/4 cup of olive oil (or lemon olive oil) and toss to coat. Stir in lemon juice then half of the parmesan cheese. Use the reserved pasta water to moisten as necessary.

At this point, we take out Claire's vegetarian portion, and add the meat to the remaining pasta. Taste for salt and pepper, and top each serving with remaining parmesan cheese.