Gnocchi with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
This recipe is a bit of a banger. It's really simple, uses broccoli rabe, which most folks don't cook with on the reg, and comes out delicious on account of the butter and parmesan. My wife found it on Purewow.com and I'm real happy she did. If you want to riff on it I'd suggest using some raw, uncased sausage in lieu of the butter and cooking everything in the fat those things lay down. You could also use the raw sausage and the butter together if you're a glutton for good flavor. I've made some modifications to the ingredients list and cooking process. My modifications make it taste better.
Ingredients
- 1 lb store-bought gnocchi
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 lb cooked Italian sausage, sliced (or raw, see above)
- 1 bunch broccoli rabe, cut into bite-sized pieces
- ½ cup chicken broth
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- ½ tsp red-pepper flakes
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
After you've prepped everything, this recipe is going to go pretty quickly so make sure everything is together and near you. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then salt it and add the gnocchi. Cook for 4-5 minutes, reserve some of the pasta water, then drain the gnocchi.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat (or start cooking your uncased raw sausage!) and sauté the onion until translucent. Now here the original recipe calls for adding the minced garlic for one minute then adding the cooked sausage for 3-4 minutes. Don't do that, flip the order there or you will end up with acrid, burnt garlic. Do the sausage first then add the garlic, cook that form about 20-30 seconds or until fragrant then add in the chicken stock and broccoli rabe and bring to a simmer.
Cook that shit for about five minutes until the broccoli rabe starts to wilt and gets tender. Throw in some salt and black pepper as well as a bunch of chile flakes because heat is good. Finish it off but returning the gnocchi to the skillet along with the parm and parsley. Stir it up to combine and feel free to use any reserved pasta water to adjust the consistency of the sauce to your liking.
Serve that shit and enjoy the fact you're eating potato pasta with sausage, butter, and cheese plus some green stuff that snuck in there for good measure.
