Homemade Gnocchi & Sausage in Red Sauce

I always wished I was Italian. I love the food, the language, the culture but my English/German hertiage is a far cry from Italy. I like to think I have a little italian great great great grandmother somewhere in my genes. What? A girl can dream...

Neither of my parents or grandparents really cooked and my mother hated cooking. My grandmother made some mean cornbread dressing and spaghetti but no one in my family really enjoyed cooking the way The Other Williams and I do.

We can spend a Friday night, delicious Italian wine in hand, creating Old World Italian recipes from scratch and be perfectly happy. At least The Other Williams has a little Italian genes running through her blood.



This dish is one such dish we created on a random Friday night and...

It blew us away!

We've made gnocchi from scratch before but it didn't quite turn out well. This time, we nailed it! The sauce was rich, deep, and complex. The gnocchi was like soft pillows of heaven and the sausage, well it was homemade also.

There was something so rustic about making this dish together in our home on a random Friday night. It was cold outside but inside our home was warm with the smells of old world cooking. Getting your hands into your food and putting your soul into what you eat. Knowing not only where it came from but what was lovingly put in it, makes me feel warm inside.

The meal was perfect in every way and we had so much fun working together creating something nourishing with our own hands.

Homemade Gnocchi & Sausage in Red Sauce
Recipe Modified from Manu's Menu
Serves: 2

For Potato Gnocchi*
2.2 lbs potatoes
1 egg
¾ tsp salt
1 cup flour (to add little by little, you may require more or less depending on the potatoes you are using)

We followed instructions here to make and cook the gnocchi. We only used 1/2 the recipe for 2 servings. Its a great guide!
*You could also use store bought gnocchi if you prefer. Just follow the package instructions to cook.

For the Tomato Sauce
15 oz. can crushed tomato
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion
10 basil leaves
Salt to taste

For the Final Dish
1.1 lbs potato gnocchi, cooked
1 link sweet Italian sausage, cooked & sliced
5.5 oz. fresh mozzarella (3.5 oz. cubed, 2 oz. sliced)
2 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano
The above tomato sauce

Start by preparing the tomato sauce. Put the extra virgin olive oil in a pot with the peeled whole onion. Sauté it for a couple of minutes then add the tomato purée, some salt and half the basil. Cover it and cook for 15 to 20 minutes on a low flame, or until thickened.

When ready, remove the onion, add the cubed mozzarella to it and mix it with a wooden spoon for a few minutes. Make sure the mozzarella is nicely melted and there are no lumps in the sauce. Add the rest of the basil (roughly chopped). Add half the Parm to the sauce and stir. Add cooked Gnocchi, and cooked sausage slices to sauce and stir.

Grease an oven proof dish (I used 2 individual dishes, but you can also use 1 and then divide them in plates when ready). Pour the gnocchi mixture in it, top with the mozzarella slices and the remaining thinly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Put the gnocchi in the oven and broil them for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese melts and becomes golden.