Gnocchi with mushrooms & sage

For ➍

2 ts ground black pepper 

olive oil 

1-2 tbs white balsamio vinegar 

300 g mixed mushrooms, torn into large pieces 

15 sage leaves 

sea salt 

250 g gnocchi 

100 g Parmigiano, finely grated 

50 g Pecorino, finely grated 

Toast the peppercorns in a large, hot, dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant. Then crush them coarsely in a mortar and set aside. Place the skillet back on the heat and heat a deep layer of olive oil in the skillet. Add the sage leaves and fry for 1 m, until nice and crispy. 

Remove the sage leaves from the pan and add the mushrooms. Fry them for about 5-10 m. Season with salt. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the gnocchi and cook them for 2-3 m until they float to the surface. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and reserve 10 cl of the cooking water. 

Add the roasted ground peppercorns to the mushrooms. Add the white balsamico vinegar. Also add (part of) the pasta water and let simmer for 2 m, until the liquid has reduced by half. 

Add the drained gnocchi to the pan and toss them in the sauce. Also add the cheeses immediately and mix until the sauce is smooth. Divide the mushroom gnocchi among the plates and finally sprinkle with extra cheese. Serve the mushroom gnocchi with a salad. 

Gnocchi with pumpkin & spinach

For ➍

butternut squash (peeled, deseeded, cubed)

800 g baby spinach

1 onion (peeled & chopped)

1 tbsp fresh sage (chopped)

500 g gnocchi

50 g grated Parmigiano

2 tbs olive oil

pepper

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven and sauté the onion until translucent. Add the pumpkin cubes and sage and cook for about 12 m, stirring occasionally, until the pumpkin cubes are soft.

Add 50 cl water and bring to a boil. Add the gnocchi. Cook uncovered over low heat for 3 m.

Rinse the spinach and add it to the pan. Let the spinach wilt.

Stir in the Parmigiano, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Gnocchi cremosi di salsiccia e funghi (gnocchi with sausage & mushrooms)

For ➍

3 Italian sausages, casings removed* 

200 portobello mushrooms, coarsely chopped** 

2 shallots, minced 

2 tbs butter*** 

1 tbs oil 

2 cloves garlic, minced 

200 g potato gnocchi 

10 cl dry white wine (such as Pinot Grigio) 

1-2 tbs heavy cream**** 

½ ts Italian herbs, dried***** 

1 pinch red pepper flakes, or to taste 

salt & ground black pepper to taste 

Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat and cook sausage until no longer pink, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks, about 7 m. 

Continue to brown the meat and add mushrooms, shallots, butter, and oil. Cook until mushrooms and onions are soft and beginning to brown, about 5 m. 

Add garlic and cook for 1 to 2 m. 


Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook gnocchi in the boiling water until they float to the top, 2 to 4 m. Drain and set aside. 


Add white wine to the sausage mixture and simmer, uncovered, until wine has reduced by half, about 5 m. 

Add gnocchi, cream, Italian herbs, pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. 

Cook over medium-low heat until sauce has thickened, about 10 m. 

Serve without cheese.

*lemon & thyme pork sausages recommended 

**or use a creative mushroom blend, like porcini, shiitake, small button mushrooms 

***use 2 tbs olive oil instead 

****use lactose-free vegan cream instead 

*****use ½-1 tbs fresh herbs like oregano instead

Gnocchi with cavolo nero & sausage

For ➍

2 salsicce or other pork sausages

3 tbs sunflower oil

1 tbs fennel seeds

500 g  gnocchi

800 g Italian stir-fry mix cavolo nero* 

Remove the skin from the sausages. Heat ⅓ of the oil in a frying pan and fry the sausage meat with the fennel seeds 3 m over medium heat until golden brown. While cooking, press the meat into pieces with a wooden spoon.

Meanwhile, heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan and fry the gnocchi 8 m. Over medium heat until golden yellow and done. Toss regularly.

Add the stir-fry vegetables to the sausage meat and fry for 7 m while stirring over high heat. 

Add the gnocchi, season with salt and pepper and serve.

*Or make a mix from cavolo nero cabbage, chestnut mushrooms, broccoli & scallion.

Gnocchi with tomato & fennel

For ➋

1 vegetable stock cube

pepper & salt

1 ts rosemary

1 large fennel

250 g gnocchi

130 g raw ham*

1 toe garlic

150 g sun-dried tomatoes in oil

60-70 g Parmigiano, finely grated

Bring a cooking pot with water and the stock cube to the boil.

Place the fennel on the side, cut off the lower end and then cut it in half. Cut into fine rings. Keep the fennel greens aside. Cut the ham into rough slices.

Cook the fennel and gnocchi in the pot for about 2 m until tender and drain. **

Put the same pot back on the fire and add a spoonful of tomato oil. Fry the ham until crispy.  Fry  the gnocchi, fennel and garlic together. Add the tomatoes a little later. Add baked ham.

Serve and sprinkle generously with poor man's parmigiano and fennel greens.

* Or try chorizo ​​sausage, cut into cubes.

** Or steam the fennel almost done in the microwave (5-7 m per 500 g).

Gnocchi with ricotta, Parma ham & green asparagus

For ➍

1 red onion 

1 clove garlic 

90 g Parma ham 

350 g green asparagus 

200 g (frozen) garden peas 

800 g gnocchi 

1 tbs mild olive oil 

100 g ricotta 

90 g Parmigiano Reggiano flakes

  

Chop the onion and finely chop the garlic. Cut the Parma ham into ½ cm strips. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. 

Cut the bottom 2 cm of the green asparagus and cut the asparagus into 3 cm pieces. Boil the asparagus, garden peas and gnocchi 2 m. Drain in a colander, keep 50 ml of the cooking liquid (per 4 persons) and rinse under cold running water. 

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic 2 m over medium heat. Add the Parma ham and fry for 1 m. 

Add the asparagus, garden peas and gnocchi. Bake 2 m. Mix the ricotta with the reserved cooking water and stir through the gnocchi. 

Mix in the Parmigiano Reggiano. Season the gnocchi with salt and pepper.

Gnocchi & sausage

For ➍
250 g potato gnocchi
3 smoked pork sausages, sliced*
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbs butter
pinch of hot pepper flakes
½ tbs fresh thyme leaves
½ tbs fresh oregano, chopped
100 g (frozen & thawed) peas**
50 g grated Parmigiano**
salt & pepper

Prepare the gnocchi according to package instructions.
While the gnocchi is cooking, heat up a skillet with 1 tbs of butter. Add the sausage* and onions. Cook until sausage is browned and onions are soft. On medium heat, add the garlic, hot pepper flakes, thyme and oregano. Cook for 1 m or until the garlic is softened.
Drain the gnocchi, reserving a little of the cooking water. Add the gnocchi to the sausage mixture. Shake the skillet so the gnocchi don't stick. Add the peas and remaining tbs of butter. Salt and pepper to taste.
Top with cheese**. Let the cheese melt slightly before serving.
Serve with a glass of northern Italian white wine, like pinot grigio.

*Or use a dry, not too salty Italian salami, such as salamini alla cacciatora. Melt the onions first, then add the salami, which requires only warming instead of cooking. The smoked pork sausages make it taste rather Austrian.
**Optional.

Serve gnocchi with sauces like vegetables & ricotta sauce, tomato & butter sauce, Tuscan white sauce, Italian meat sauce...

Spaghetti with vegetables & ricotta salata

For ➍
2 large eggplants
500 g small tomatoes, or canned plum tomatoes, drained
6 tbs extra virgin olive oil
8 tbs salt
400 g spaghetti
4 garlic cloves, crushed
¼ teaspoon crushed dried chillies
large handful fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
100 g ricotta salata, finely grated (or feta cheese, crumbled)
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Cut off the tops and bases of the eggplants. Cut across into 2. Cut each piece lengthwise into sticks. Place into a colander and sprinkle with 1 ts of salt. Place the colander over a bowl and leave the eggplants for 30-40 m to disgorge some of their juices.
When using fresh tomatoes, squeeze them over the sink to get rid of most of their juices and seeds. Coarsely chop the tomatoes.
Pat the eggplants dry with kitchen paper to remove the salt and excess juices.
Heat 4 tbs of the olive oil in a large frying pan. Add ½ the eggplants pieces and fry, turning occasionally, until golden-brown all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and place onto a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain. Repeat for the remaining eggplant pieces.
Remove the pan from the heat to allow the oil remaining in the frying pan to cool.
Place 4.5 l water into a large pan and bring to the boil. Add the salt, then the spaghetti and cook until al dente.
Shortly before the spaghetti is ready, add the remaining olive oil and the garlic to the frying pan and return it to the heat. As soon as the garlic begins to sizzle, add the crushed chillies and the tomatoes and cook over a high heat for 2-3 m.
Add the eggplants and season .
Drain the cooked spaghetti. Add to the sauce.
Add the basil and ½ of the ricotta salata or feta. Mix well.
Spoon equal portions of the spaghetti and sauce into 4 warmed bowls and sprinkle each with the remaining cheese.

All ricotta (meaning 'recooked') varieties are Italian fresh whey cheeses, made from the leftover from the production of mozzarella, pecorino or provolone. To ferment the whey it is heated to make it curl. Then it is heated a second time, so the liquid can be seperated from the cheese. It is made from sheep or cow milk with regional differences.
Ricotta salata is produced from the whey of sheep milk on Sardinia and Sicily and has a mild, slightly salty taste, hence 'salata'. It is sold aged, drained and dried, and can then be crumbled like feta.It suits the bitterness of walnuts and pairs well with the chicory family, such as endives or radicchio di Treviso. It works alongside artichokes or wild mushrooms. Grate over gnocchi or pasta, such as cavatelli, or orchiette, or crumble it on top of a crisp green salad.
Read more spaghetti & linguine recipes: a quick spaghetti, spaghetti with scallops & tomatoes, scallops & rucola spaghetti, spaghetti alla carbonara, shrimps fra diavolo, raw tomato spaghetti, spaghetti with clams, spaghetti with small clams, spaghetti with oil & garlic, spaghetti alla puttanesca, Palermo spaghetti with tomatoes & mint, American-Italian spaghetti with meatballs, vermicelli with parsley sauce, shrimps & Brie linguine, butter & tomato pasta sauce, lemon pasta with sea spinach.

Tomato sauce with butter & onions

For ➍
800 g can of whole peeled Italian (San Marzano) tomatoes*
5 tbs butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled & halved
salt

(Drain the tomatoes for a thicker sauce.) Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer.
Lower the heat and simmer for 45 m. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Remove from heat, discard the onion**, add salt, if necessary.
Serve with (500 g of) spaghetti, small tube pasta like penne and rigatoni, or potato gnocchi. No Parmigiano or just a little bit, grated on top of the sauce.

*Use a good Italian canned tomato puree or chopped tomatoes instead (or for a smaller amount of sauce). Adjust butter and onion quantities to tomatoes' volume. Cut the cooking time to half or less. Or make it with bright, fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped roughly. (Plunge the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute or less. Drain and skin them. Cut them up in coarse pieces.)
**Mash or cut up the onion and spread it on a toast, the next day.
***The sauce can be frozen (without the onion).

Read about other Italian tomato sauces with pecorino, with basil: the puttanesca way, a cold sauce, an oil & garlic variation, Sophia Loren's raw tomato sauce, Sicilian with capers & mint, Italian-American fusion with meatballs.
Read more spaghetti & linguine recipes: a quick spaghetti, spaghetti with scallops & tomatoes, scallops & rucola spaghetti, spaghetti alla carbonara, spaghetti with vegetables, shrimps fra diavolo, spaghetti with clams, spaghetti with small clams, spaghetti with oil & garlic, vermicelli with parsley sauce, shrimps & Brie linguine.

Sugo bianco (Tuscan white sauce)

For ➍/ 75 cl*
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 sweet Italian sausages**
2 large fresh porcini mushrooms, brushed & chopped
1 medium zucchini, grated
4 fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tbs fresh cream or mascarpone
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Heat a saucepan. Heat olive oil. Make the onion soft.
Strip the skins away from the sausages and crumble the sausage meat with a fork or your fingers.
Add the sausage meat to the onions and continue cooking very gently, stirring occasionally, until the meat has browned.
Add the grated zucchini to the pan, also add the sage. Stir well, and cook on medium heat until the zucchini bits are softened. Stir in the chopped mushrooms. Add a few tbs of water. Raise the heat to medium and cook rapidly until most of the liquid has evaporated or been absorbed.
Take the sauce off the heat, and stir in the cream. Return briefly to the heat.
Season to taste.
Serve immediately over gnocchi, fusilli, or other short, curly pasta. Mix the pasta and sauce for 1 m, so the sauce really clings to the pasta, not that the pasta swims around in sauce.

*Leftovers can be frozen for a short period.
**Or any good fresh thick sausage with rather coarse meat. It can also be made with strips of wild boar or pork.

This white sauce, sometimes called ragu' bianco, has no tomatoes, and can be served with a variety of pasta.

Strozzapreti al sugo di carne (Italian meat sauce for filled pasta)

For ➏
6 tbs butter
2.5 kg chuck roast, cut into 3 cm cubes
3 onions, halved & thinly sliced
75 cl bottle Chianti or other fruity red wine
750 g can peeled tomatoes with juice
1 cup brewed espresso
500 g strozzapreti* or other twisted pasta

Preheat oven to 200°C. Melt 1 tbs butter in large ovenproof pot over medium high heat. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Working in batches, cook beef until browned, about 4 m per batch.
Transfer beef to large bowl. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining 5 tbs butter to pot and melt. Add onions and cook until soft, stirring frequently, about 5 m. Return beef and any accumulated juices to pot. Add wine, tomatoes with juice, and espresso. Bring to boil, cover, and transfer to oven.
Braise beef until tender, about 2 h. Using 2 forks, break beef apart into more manageable chunks. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta.
Stir strozzapreti or other filled pasta into beef mixture and serve.

*'Strozzapreti' means 'strangled priest' or, rather, 'priest choking himself on food'. A similar name, 'strangelopreti' is used in the North for a gnocchi-like food.