Todd, who is The Daring Kitchen’s AWESOME webmaster and an amazing cook, is our September Daring Cooks’ host! Todd challenged us to make light and fluffy potato Gnocchi and encouraged us to flavor the lil pillows of goodness and go wild with a sauce to top them with!
YESSSSS! I love gnocchi of all sorts, so I was very happy about this month’s challenge! I must admit my love for gnocchi is a recent one. I would never eat gnocchi while growing up. They are a common dish in Italy, so much so that they serve them in school canteens as well. Now, one thing is making gnocchi (at home) for a few people… they are usually pillowy and soft and delicious right? Well, try and make ready-made/store-bought gnocchi for 100 children. By the time they got on my plate they would be chewy and rubbery and… well, inedible for me. So I never ever wanted to try gnocchi again. That was up until I moved to Australia and I had home-made gnocchi at a friend’s house (she is Italian too). She had no idea of my dislike for gnocchi and I did not want to be rude… so I had a few and OH MY!! I went for seconds. They were that good. That’s how I started to like gnocchi and I have been making different kinds in the last few years. I have a tutorial on the site on how to make them, so make sure you check it out. It is much easier than you think. I will also share a little secret with you: gnocchi (both potato and ricotta gnocchi) freeze amazingly well. So I often make extra and freeze them on a tray. Once hard, I simply transfer them in a Ziploc bag. When you feel like eating gnocchi, all you have to do is cook them from frozen and throw them straight into salty boiling water. That’s it. Nobody will ever know you did not spend your morning in the kitchen! 😉
That said, as I have made potato gnocchi many times, I wanted to try something different for the challenge. So, I decided to add saffron to them, to get a nice yellow colour (and some flavour too of course!). Choosing the sauce was easy… I knew it had to be sausage and as I had some frozen porcini mushrooms in the freezer, I went for a classic pairing. Delicious! Saffron goes very well with both mushrooms and sausage. My husband said they were the best gnocchi I have ever made… so you get the point. Hope you like them too!
Todd, thank you so much for such a yummy challenge!!!
Saffron Potato Gnocchi with Sausage and Porcini
How to make Saffron Potato Gnocchi with Sausage and Porcini from scratch.
Ingredients
- 1 batch Saffron Potato Gnocchi
- 300 gms – 10 oz. sausage
- 200 gms – 7 oz. porcini sliced
- 1 garlic clove halved
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 60 ml – ¼ cup white wine
- 1 tbsp parsley chopped
- Salt to taste
- Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated – to serve
Instructions
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Make the Saffron Potato Gnocchi as per my tutorial.
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Put the garlic and extra virgin olive oil in a pan and sauté it for a minute.
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Remove the casing from the sausage, break it into pieces and put it in the pan with the garlic and oil. Brown it well breaking down the meat.
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Add the sliced porcini mushrooms and mix.
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Add the white wine and increase the flame to high. As soon as the alcohol evaporates, decrease the flame and let it cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
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Cook the gnocchi as per the instructions that you find here.
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When cooked, mix them well with the warm sauce in the pan and serve immediately with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano on the top.
Urmila @ The Garlic Press says
Absolutely beautiful gnocchi! Thanks for the tip on freezing — I will be sure to freeze a batch next time I make them.
Monkeyshines says
They look beautiful – porcini mushrooms are one of my favorites!
Jas@AbsolutelyJas says
My husband adores the pairing of sausage and mushroom (especially if there’s cream involved too), and I love saffron, so I think this is definitely going on my list of things to cook! Fabulous styling too 🙂
Joanne T Ferguson says
G’day and love the flavors, true!
Congrats about completing the challenge and love the staging of your photo too!
Cheers! Joanne
Viewed as Part of The Daring Kitchen Cooks Challenge Sept 2013
Nuts about food says
That is exactly like me: despised gnocchi growing up but leaving eating homemade ones now.
LilRedGreen says
“1 batch Saffron Potato Gnocchi (click here for the recipe)” the link isn’t working?
Manu says
Awww! THANK YOU for letting me know! It’s fixed now. 🙂