I bought pre-made gnocchi at Trader Joe’s last week, and had been wondering all weekend what to do with it. This ragu is, yet again, bastardized from another recipe, this one from Martha Stewart’s Everday Food. Say what you will about Martha, I do have a bit of a weakness for this magazine. And this was a great partner for the gnocchi–rich and really full of flavor, and thick enough to coat the gnocchi, but not too heavy or creamy or fatty.
It took a bit longer than most things I cook, but wasn’t difficult at all, and was well worth the extra time. I’m curious how different it would taste made as the original recipe suggests, without the wine, and with bacon instead of sausage. I also feel like it’s a bit of a cop out, to write about gnocchi when using the packaged kind, but I’m not quite ready to make my own gnocchi. Regardless, this ragu would probably also be awesome with any other kind of pasta, or even over chicken or steak or something (probably not so much over fish, though).
Gnocchi with Mushroom Sausage Ragu
- 8 oz. cremini mushrooms (I used just the caps, and cut them into quarters, but you could probably use the stems, too, and it might be a little more mushroomy.)
- 2 sweet italian chicken sausages, sliced
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1/4 c. tomato paste (I use a really concentrated kind of tomato paste, so I used a little less than this.)
- 1 c. red wine
- about 1 tsp. dried thyme
- salt and pepper
- 1 package of fresh gnocchi
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and add the sausage. Cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, until the sausage is browned. Remove the sausage from the skillet and set aside on some paper towels or something.
Add the onion to the skillet, and cook for a minute or so, until the onion is golden but not quite translucent. Add the mushrooms, so they are spread evenly in the skillet, cover, and let this all sit over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.
Once the mushrooms have released some of their water, and turned kind of goldeny, and let off that awesome sauteed mushroom smell, and the onions are kind of caramelized, add the tomato paste, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of red wine, and the thyme. Stir it all together, and cover again. This should cook down for about 10 or 15 minutes, or until it thickens up however thick you want it. While the sauce is thickening, cook your gnocchi, or whatever other pasta you want to use.
When the sauce is nice and thick, add the sausage and the gnocchi, and stir everything around so the sauce coats everything else. You can salt and pepper it to taste, but I found it needed very little additional salt. Put some parm on top, if you like that kind of thing. Then serve it to happy people, and go watch Gilmore Girls, like we did.