Gnocchi with Chicken Sausage, Bell Pepper, and Fennel
I always love looking though my Cooking Light magazine until I realize that every recipe has about 9,253 ingredients to make up for the fact that it is “light cooking.” Well, most of them, at least. This one did not, and it had sausage, which I love. I was a little apprehensive at first - mostly because I’d never had gnocchi until about an hour ago, and wasn’t sure how this dish would work, texturally. It ended up being wonderful, and super simple. The combination of flavors (sweet and savory) and textures (crunchy fennel, slightly gummy gnocchi, and crisp sausage) went very well together. I think we actually improved upon the original recipe by substituting what was both on hand and available at the grocery store. (The original recipe calls for basil, pine nut and chicken sausage, as well as Asiago cheese. I’ve listed what we used below.)
Ingredients:
- 16 oz. package vacuum packed gnocchi (I looked everywhere and eventually found it with the fancy Italian food in the yellow cans and jars - not sure what brand that is)
- 6 oz. smoked chicken and apple sausage (the recipe says to remove the casings, which I found impossible) sliced thinly
- 1 c. thinly sliced fennel
- 1 c. thinly sliced onion
- 1 c. thinly sliced red bell pepper
- pepper
- 1/4 c. shaved Parmesan
Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. Add sliced sausage and cook until lightly browned (or not so lightly, as you can probably see in the picture,) remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan (without washing) add another teaspoon or so of olive oil, and add peppers, fennel, and onions. Reduce heat to medium and cook until veggies are tender, about 13 minutes. While the veggies are hanging out, cook gnocchi according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 c. of cooking liquid and add to pan when veggies are done. Add back sausage, add pepper and cheese, stir until cheese is melted.