10-Minute Sausage & Broccolini Gnocchi

Always keep a pack of store-bought gnocchi in the freezer — they’re an amazing way to have a meal put together in minutes.

Ingredients

Store bought gnocchi pack (~1 lb, 450 g)
Olive oil for cooking (optional, depending on how fatty the sausage is)
1/2 to 1 lb (~225-450 g) loose sausage (Merguez, Italian, Chorizo, or any type you have)
Broccolini (or any green you have), about equal parts in volume to the sausage
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Handful of Parmigiano Reggiano or parmesan, grated
Kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

Set a small pot of water to boil and season with a small handful of salt.
In a second, wide pan, sear off your sausage until browned and crispy over medium-high heat. Add additional olive oil (if needed), garlic, and red pepper flake. Heat through until fragrant.
Add the broccolini and a pinch of salt and sauté together until mostly cooked through.
Meanwhile, when your salted water starts boiling, add gnocchi and cook for 2 minutes or until cooked through.
Add the gnocchi directly to the sausage and greens along with a few spoonfuls of the pasta water to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spatula to scrape up any fond.
Turn off the heat. Add a big handful of Parmigiano to the pasta and mix together. Serve.

Pro Tip — Use as small of a pasta boiling pot as possible. The less water you use, the more starchy it will get from boiling the gnocchi. This starchy water will help emulsify with the sausage fat and Parmigiano to form a creamy coating instead of a greasy pasta.