Sausage and Gnocchi Bake

I grew up not poor, but low-income. When I was very young and my brothers and I didn't eat much, we were offered more meat and potato meals. But as we became teens, finances required we switch to a lot more casseroles and other recipes that used smaller amounts of meat with lots of other ingredients. To this day, although I serve both styles of meals in rotation, but I still enjoy a dish with mixed ingredients a lot more than a piece of meat with potatoes or rice. And with the price of meat soaring, combo recipes help keep the monthly total for groceries down a bit.

My local store has bags of gnocchi in the refrigerator section that I enjoy occasionally.  I sauté them in butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve them instead of rice or potatoes on the side. When I saw this recipe on an Australian site called the Easy Recipe Gang,I thought it might be a fun new way to use them.  I switched out the 600 grams of Italian sausage for a smaller amount chicken breakfast sausage, and I switched out the cream for almond milk. Both options were chosen to reduce the total fat. I am sure it would be amazing with the Italian Sausage and real cream, and the sauce would be thicker, so up to you.  I might make it that way for company one day. But for just Glen and I, this lighter version is a better choice. It was still delicious. 

The only weird part was the package of gnocchi I bought this time ended up being a very different shape. Instead of the smaller bites, they were bigger and longer - a little logs. You can see in the pic they look weird. I don't know if the company changed them or I bought a special package that was different.  Either way, the larger gnocchi didn't work as well.  But both my husband and I enjoyed the overall dish, though, so I will source more traditional gnocchi when I make it again.  Enjoy!

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Sausage and Gnocchi Bake

Ingredients - 

600 g                 Cooked gnocchi

340 g                 Fresh Chicken Breakfast Sausage (Original 6 fat Italian style sausage)

300 g                 Fresh spinach leaves (baby as is, chopped if large leaves)

250 g                 Sliced  or diced mushrooms (the way you like best)
250 g                 Cherry tomatoes (or heritage or grape)
1-1/4 C              Dairy free milk or Heavy Cream  (I used almond. Cream makes a richer, thicker sauce)
1 T                     Garlic, finely minced
1 T                     Tomato paste
1 T                     Dried oregano

1 tsp                   Salt

1/2 tsp               Pepper 

Instructions - 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a 9 x 13 baking dish (spray or oil).  

Whisk together the alternative milk or cream, garlic, tomato paste, oregano, and that pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl until well blended.

In your baking dish, lay out the spinach leaves first, followed by the mushrooms and then the cherry tomatoes. Using kitchen scissors, snip each sausage into bit size piece over the top. Arrange the gnocch on top and then drizzle the sauce over it all. 

Bake for about 25 minutes or until those sausages turn a lovely golden brown. Remove from the oven and gently mix until everything is evenly distributed.  Serve with warm crusty artisan bread to soak up any leftover sauce.