Cooking with Blobby

I mentioned sometime last week that I made a new dinner on Halloween evening. I also inferred there would be a new Cooking segment.  

This is it. 

Ooooh, spoiler alert: we have a winner for a new recipe for dinner. 

....and for the most part, it's pretty easy. Only one tedious part of the deal. 

Crispy Gnocchi and Broccoli.  .....and sausage.

I love broccoli.  710 likes it, but more tolerates it, so we don't have it a lot. And it has to be cooked just so. 

Roasted broccoli does the trick, though sometimes it is difficult to get just right. 

I like gnocchi enough, but usually have had pasta variety. Potato works here too. 

Let's get into it. 

Ingredients 

Yield: 4 servings 

1 (12- to 18-ounce) package shelf-stable potato gnocchi 

1 large head broccoli (about 1 pound), florets cut into 1½- to 2-inch pieces, stems thinly sliced 

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 

2 garlic cloves, finely grated 

Salt 

Crushed red pepper (optional) 

1 pound hot or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed 

¼ cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving 

½ lemon 

Preparation 

Step 1 Heat the oven to 425 degrees. On a sheet pan, toss together the gnocchi, broccoli, olive oil and garlic until well coated. Season with salt and crushed red pepper, if using. Spread into an even layer. Pinch off pieces of the sausage that are roughly the size of the gnocchi and place them on top of the gnocchi and vegetables. Roast until the sausage and broccoli are golden and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. 

NOTE(s).  

• I found it easier to mix the broccoli, gnocchi, olive oil, red pepper flakes and garlic in a bowl and put it on the sheet pan.  ....but that's me.  
• I'd STILL be forming pieces of sausage if they were to be the size of the gnocchi. Mine are bigger. It was just fine (for those not wanting meat, they can use none or a plant based alternative). 
• I almost forgot to take a pic of it all assembled - but I took a quick pic while in the oven. 

 

Step 2 Squeeze the lemon half over the top (about 1½ tablespoons juice) and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Stir until the cheese has melted.

Serve topped with more Parmesan and crushed red pepper as you like.

I used a hot sausage. It was spicy, but not too much so. The red pepper flakes did that. I added it to the dish before cooking and when on the table. It gives a zing, but it's optional. 

Both broccoli and gnocchi were nicely roasted. I did a full 25 minute baking time, but it could have gone longer for more crispiness, but it was more than fine as is. 

It's truly a 4 serving size recipe. We heated leftovers up in a skillet. To keep it crispy in leftovers, a microwave will not do. 

This goes into the rotation.