Four Cheese Gnocchi and Sausage Bake

Italian

Main

Pasta

April 13, 2023

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”

— G.K. Chesterton

Gnocchi (pronounced nyow kee) is traditional Italian potato pasta that looks like potato dumplings. They are small, thick, and soft, and sinking your teeth into one feels like biting into a little puffy cloud. When combined and cooked with cheese Gnocchi is the ultimate creamy savory comfort food.

With about 2,000 varieties of cheeses to choose from, the mild, stretchy, and easy-to-melt mozzarella is the most popular cheese in America thanks to our love for pizza. I find it quite astonishing that with just three ingredients: milk, salt, and a coagulant like vinegar or bacteria we can produce so many varieties of cheeses, which in addition to being a good source of energy, protein, and calcium, are also high in vitamins A and B-12. Not that any of us need extra convincing to eat cheese, but little factoids can help to bite into a soft and delicate buttery cheese with even more satisfaction.

In general, just like craft beer, we recommend you let the cold cheeses warm up before eating to allow the flavor and aroma to develop. Alternatively cook them in your dishes to create an even sweeter, tangier, buttery, and more savory meal. You may find it interesting that some cheese-lovers or turophiles, have made a hobby called ‘tyrosemiophilia’, out of collecting cheese labels. I think we’d like to sign up for that, and frankly, who wouldn’t?
“Macaroni and cheese” may be the most popular cheese recipe in the USA, followed by pizza, but we think today’s cheese recipe with Gnocchi and a bit of sausage is definitely a great contestant for the next runner-up.

Give it a try and see for yourself. Who knows, maybe you’d become the poet to wax eloquently on the subject of cheese.

Four Cheese Gnocchi and Sausage Bake

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Cook Time 45

Total Time 45

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

1/2 ib. Italian sausage links sliced thin
1 lb. gnocchi
1/4 cups milk
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour
8 oz. mozzarella cheese grated
4 ounces parmesan cheese shredded
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
Brown the sausage until browned and cooked through. Set aside.
Cook the gnocchi in boiling salted water until they float. Drain and set aside.
In a small saucepan, add the milk over low-medium heat but don’t bring it to a boil.
Meanwhile, add the butter to a medium-sized saucepan over low heat and melt. Add the flour and whisk together for about 2 minutes.
Continue whisking and add the milk, a little at a time until incorporated and no lumps remain. Cook for several minutes, whisking, until it thickens a bit.
Add the salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes and stir.
Remove from the heat and add the cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted. Add the sausage and the gnocchi to the mixture and stir to combine.
Transfer the gnocchi mixture to a baking dish.
Bake for 30 minutes. If you would like it more browned, you can place it under the broiler (for 15-20 seconds) to brown after baking.