Gnocchi with Sage, Carrots & Chicken Sausage #FallOneDishDinner

Good grief, my real estate team made me dress for Halloween today. How cruel! Well, not really. I just happen to have a white ghost gown, white patent leather go-go boots, salt and pepper hair now. Should work, right?

AND! They want to have a Halloween potluck. In my haste to sign up for a dish, I put my name in the main dish section. Then I went home and thought about what the heck to make that would be fast, delicious and a main dish, one bowl meal.

Gnocchi. Butter. Sage. Carrots, Sweet Onions & Red Bell Pepper. Chicken Sausage. Fall meal for a crowd! Voila!

Ingredients

2-3 packages of gnocchi, depends how many you are feeding
1 small sweet yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 large carrots, sliced ½ inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, deseeded
6 precooked chicken sausages, sliced ½ pieces
1 package of fresh sage
½ stick salted butter
Fine grated Pecorino cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the carrots and sausages, cut the bell pepper and onion. This is how I cut an onion: cut the ends off, cut in half and remove the outer layer that is always useless. Then place each half large side down and slice that half in half and the half in quarters. Then slice the half in thick slices. Did that make sense? Also, I recommend a chicken sausage that will compliment this dish, Aidells has the most selection of flavors.

Place all in a large bowl and mix with your hands. Lightly coat with cooking spray and mix well. Spread mixture on large baking sheet that is lined with foil, lightly coated with cooking spray. I happen to use a sheet pan that came with a silicone sheet. If you don’t have one, I highly recommend considering this purchase. It makes baking so much easier! Roast in oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and return to that mixing bowl, set aside.

While the mixture is roasting, fill a large pot with filtered water and bring to a boil. It helps to put a lid on the pot, fyi. This is a good time to destem the sage, too. Take the leaves and stack the leaves on top of each other, then slice in ¼ inch pieces, set the sage aside. The water should be boiling by now, so drop all that gnocchi into the pot.

Now, melt the butter slowly in a small fry pan over medium heat. Check the gnocchi, it cooks fast. If it is mostly floating, pull it and drain in a large over the sink adjustable colander. If you don’t have one, get one. They are priceless.

Let’s get back to that butter. Once it is just about all melted, drop the sliced sage into the butter. Let the butter get medium warm not HOT but able to fry the sage without burning. When you can tell the sage is getting crunchy, remove from heat. Pour the butter mixture in the serving bowl you will use.

By now the gnocchi should be cooler. I tossed 2 tablespoons of the sage flavored butter with the gnocchi, then spread out the gnocchi on a foil or silicone lined baking sheet. You only want to coat it enough so that the gnocchi browns. Broil until browned on top, one side is good enough and far less work, right? Keep an eye on it, this should only take about 10 minutes if you leave the rack in the medium position, no need to have it so close that it may burn, right?

Okay, let’s go to the finish line! Grab that extra-large serving bowl and add the gnocchi, toss it in the sage butter. Add the vegetables and sausage, toss well. Add fine grated pecorino cheese and toss again. Bon Appetit!

NOTE if you are making this for only you and your family, you will need only one package of gnocchi, 1 medium carrot, a half of onion cut up, 2-3 sausages. Maybe a quarter cup of sliced sage not to mention a half stick of butter. You will still have left overs but think of it this way, you will have butter for Thanksgiving. Any left-over butter and sage can be poured into a small mason jar and freeze  for the upcoming holiday or a future meal.

#FallDinner #Gnocchi #SageButter #ComfortFood