Wheat Penne With Sausage, Swiss Chard, and Raisins

I have Martha to thank for this one. I adjusted a few things, so check out her recipe. Here is my modified version:

Ingredients: 

1 pound mild Italian sausage, casings removed

1 pound Swiss chard, tough stems removed, leaves cut into thin strips 

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Pepper 

1 pound whole wheat penne 

3/4 cup raisins, plumped in boiling water and drained 

Sprinkles of Parmesan cheese

 

Directions: 

1. Cook sausage, breaking it up, until browned. Add chard, garlic, and pepper. Cook, tossing, until chard wilts.

2. Cook pasta until al dente, according to package directions. When pasta is just about done, add raisins. Drain pasta and raisin mixture, and return to pot.

3. Add sausage mixture to pasta and raisins and sprinkle with Parmesan as desired.

Removing the sausage from the casings is pretty unpleasant. What's the best way to do that? I hate touching raw meat. That said, I will for sure make this again. All the flavors in this recipe were so great together. I think it would be really good with the pine nuts that are in Martha's recipe, but I didn't splurge for those this time. The garlic really made this dish amazing.