Though a fairly simple process I will say one thing, it's time consuming. Every time I get the notion to make gnocchi I somehow convince myself it won't take that long. Lies. All together (from baking to shaping) these little guy's will probably set you back a couple of hours. So be prepared. Worth it though.On to Andy's part of the deal, because as delicious a canvas gnocchi may be they aren't much until you do something with them. So to follow in his footsteps here's what you will need:
Gnocchi (prepared ahead of time)
1 10 oz. container of grape tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup basil
1 cup shredded parmesan
4 T butter
1 T flavored vinegar (we had marionberry to hand)
1 T brown sugar
6 pieces of thick cut bacon
1 package of (spicy, if you please) Italian sausage
2 t red pepper flakes
To get the party started you will want to get a large pot of water set to boil. Be generous in both the size and amount of water in the pot as the gnocchi likes it's space and you will like not having a mass of glued together gnocchi. Next toss a slice of bacon into your pan. This is to get some grease going and add some extra flavor for cooking your sausage, because everything is better with bacon. I did mention this is one of Andy's lower calorie meals, right? So, render some deliciousness out of that bacon and then add the sausages so they can get friendly. Generally we find that we don't require all of the sausages that come in a package, at least not all in the same meal, so of the five or so that come in the package only three were used in this particular meal.
Once you have cooked the sausages to the point of the casings being browned remove them to a paper towel to drain. Add the remainder of your bacon to your pan and crisp it to your desired level. Remove and drain. Now that your sausages have cooled slightly you can quarter them lengthwise and then dice up the lengths so that you are left with generously sized pieces. Return these to your pan to finish browning. Browning achieved guess what you can do? Remove and drain. This is greasy stuff people, no need to hang on to all of it.Speaking of grease, you will now have some leftover in the pan. Remove all but a little and and add in your vinegar now. Scrape around the pan a bit to lift up some of that yummy flavor that's remaining and then add in your butter. As the butter nears complete melting it will look something like this:
This is the time when you can add in your tomatoes. Allow these guys to cook solo until they start to burst (yum!) and then reduce your heat to low. Add in the garlic, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes at this point. Note that the red pepper flakes, though a pretty regular star in Andy's repertoire, are not a necessary addition. We just like things a little bit spicier around here.Allow all your bits to meld together and once the garlic begins to brown you can cut your heat. Return the bacon (now chopped) and sausage to the pan and mix together. You can now turn your attention to the task of cooking the gnocchi. Depending on the amount of gnocchi you are preparing you might want to cook them in batches. You want to allow for enough room in the pot so they can freely bubble to the top when ready, we found that no more than two cups worth of gnocchi at a time is a healthy standard. Drop the gnocchi into your now boiling pot of water and stand at the ready as they only take a couple of minutes to cook and rise to the top for removal.
Scoop the gnocchi out as they are ready and deposit them into the pan with everything else. The dish's coup de grace can now be administered, the basil and cheese. Stir together...
...and your done! Plate it and eat it.
