Monday, April 14, 2008

Gnocchi!

Well I have had this box of gnocchi in my pantry for awhile. I never could find something to make with it, although in reality, anything you make w/pasta could be made with gnocchi. The April Edition of Cooking Light had a section on gnocchi. I saw one recipe, for gnocchi w/Italian Sausage & Red Peppers and decided to put it on the menu.

Gnocchi is pronouced like "nyawk-ee" not "gu-no-chi". Do not be mistaken on this pronounciation, as I have been told, a true Italian would shiver in horror to hear it pronouced the other way. But hey, I am Irish so whatve!

Anyway, this was tasty and not too heavy. I edited some items to fit our tastes better.

Gnocchi with Sausage, Red Peppers & stuff
Ingredients
1 (16-ounce) package vacuum-packed gnocchi (such as Vigo)
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
6 ounces basil, pine nut, and chicken sausage (such as Gerhard's), casing removed and sliced --> hey it was a Saturday night, I am using real Italian Sausage
1 cup thinly sliced fennel --> um I dont think so, I did use some fennel seed though
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1 cup thinly sliced onion
--> Lets add some sliced mushrooms since I had some
1/2 cup (2 ounces) freshly grated Asiago cheese --> not enough Asiago? Add some parm cheese before mixing into the dish.
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley


Preparation
1. Cook the gnocchi according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain the gnocchi in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Keep gnocchi warm.
2. Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Remove sausage from skillet using a slotted spoon.
3. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in pan. Add fennel, bell pepper, and onion to pan; cook 13 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add sausage, gnocchi, cheese, black pepper, and reserved cooking liquid to pan; cook 1 minute or until cheese melts, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in parsley.


My first attempt with gnocchi went quite well. I wish I had thought to make a salad to go with this but I was being utterly lazy on Saturday and just wanted to sit down!

2 comments:

deLa said...

i tagged you for a meme! come read my blog and find out

teegee said...

This is very cool but I thought you were German :)