SPD: Gnocchi, sausage, and fridge leftovers
Truly clean out your fridge or freezer with this sheet pan dinner that combines textures and flavors to make something much greater than the sum of its ingredients.
Around the new year, we decided to work on minimizing our food waste because, as any parent of young children can tell you, kids don’t give A SHIT about wasting food. Without resorting to the whole “there are starving children in the world, so you will eat this broccoli” threat that just leads to power struggles, we’re trying to be creative about getting M to eat whatever we make. Especially now that groceries are a little harder to come by (but not that hard, really).
I’ve seen millions of recipes about roasting gnocchi and for some reason, I’ve resisted. Though I feel like gnocchi should really appeal to M, the soft kind leaves him cold. When they’re roasted, however, they get crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, so they’re closer to tater tots or french fries than soft pasta. Let me tell you: Anything french fry-related appeals to my child.
We also included sausages (these are chorizo) because sausage is almost always eaten around here. You could also use hot dogs if that’s something your children will actually eat. Desperate times, people. Desperate times.
I can also confirm that this sheet pan dinner can be made with one hand while holding a baby.
A couple of notes:
When I started making this sheet pan dinner, I was trying to mimic the flavors of a Portuguese sausage and kale soup, so I used chorizo, Lacinto kale, potato gnocchi, and sundried tomatoes, but as I said above, you can use any kind of sausage that you like, including hot dogs.
You can also use any veggies in this sheet pan. I initially used just kale, which gets nice and crispy, but ended up using a combination of kale and broccoli or kale and something else that was about to go bad. I like the crispy kale, but for a meal, I feel like you need more textures. But really, use what you have on hand.
I finish this dish with oil packed sundried tomatoes, but if you only have the dried ones, reconstitute them in boiling water for a few minutes before adding to the sheet pan. I would NOT recommend throwing any fresh tomatoes onto the sheet pan because the water that comes out of the fresh tomatoes will steam the veggies and gnocchi and prevent them from crisping.
SPD: Gnocchi, sausage, and fridge leftovers
Yield: 4 grown up servings
Time: 30-35 minutes, (5 minutes active time, 25-30 minutes waiting time)
2-3 cups roughly chopped kale, broccoli, green beans, brussels sprouts, etc (defrosted first, if frozen)
1 package shelf-stable potato gnocchi
¼ cup olive oil
½ tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 lb precooked sausage, cut into large chunks (defrosted, if previously frozen)
¼ cup sundried tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 450.
Toss the gnocchi and roughly chopped veggies with olive oil and salt. Add the sausage.
Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the veggies are roasted and the gnocchi are golden and crispy.
Remove from the heat and top with sundried tomatoes.
Serve immediately.
Chicken and apple breakfast sausages
These chicken and apple breakfast sausage patties are super quick, packed with flavor, and a great way to add some lean protein to your breakfasts.
So! It’s been forever since I last posted because, like half of the food bloggers I follow, I’ve been busy cooking something else: A BABY. Normally I have a strong sense of smell, but pregnancy turns me into a bloodhound. Combine that with constant nausea, and you can imagine how I’ve felt about cooking or looking at food photos or being in the kitchen or even opening the refrigerator door.
Luckily, I started working on a homemade version of chicken and apple sausages (a family favorite) WAY before they started making me nauseous, so I know they’re good. Plus, they’re easy to whip up over the weekend and then store or freeze for future breakfasts. OR, if you’re feeling ambitious, you can even make them on a weekday morning if you’re one of those people with your shit together on school days.
I fiddled around a lot with the spice mix so that it would be strong enough to compensate for how little fat is in the recipe. I use a combination of fresh and dried sage but you could certainly opt for a single type. If you like less garlic or just milder flavors generally, cut back on the garlic powder and the patties will still taste great.
A note about the fat we add: It’s only a Tbsp, which may feel like too little or too much depending on where you stand and you may be tempted to add more or leave it out. But I’ve found that 1 Tbsp is enough to keep the meat from drying out without making it taste oily or making the texture crumbly.
And the apple adds a little sweetness and a little moisture.
Chicken and apple breakfast sausages
Time: 15 total (5 prep, 10 cooking)
Yield: 16 patties
1 lb ground chicken, (7-8% fat)
1 small apple, shredded (about ½ cup of apple)
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp onion powder
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp pepper
Combine the chicken, shredded apple, 1 Tbsp olive oil, and the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix just until all of the ingredients are combined.
In a large skillet, heat ½-1 Tbsp of oil over a medium flame until hot. (If you’re cooking the sausages in batches, use half of the oil; otherwise, use it all.)
Scoop 2 Tbsp of chicken mixture into balls and place in the hot skillet. Push them down slightly to form round patties. Reduce the flame to medium low and cook until well browned on the bottoms, about 5 minutes.
Flip the patties and cook on the other side until the meat is cooked through, the patties feel firm to the touch, and/or the patties reach 165 on a meat thermometer, about 4 more minutes.
Sheet pan dinner: Sausage and purple cabbage
Is there anything better than October? Everyone has settled into new routines, the weather is (generally) cooler, the leaf peeping and apple picking are in full swing, and it’s finally acceptable to buy enormous bags of candy and maintain the fiction that they’ll last until October 30th.
KIDDING! I would never pretend that that candy is making it to the end of the month.
But really, we are trying to maintain a modicum of healthy eating now that we’re super busy again with school and activities and the faster pace of non-summer months. That’s where sheet pan dinners like this one come in handy.
The combination of sausage, cabbage, and potatoes with a mustard-y sauce feels very Oktoberfest, which is obviously on-brand for this month.
Also, I haven’t yet found a vegetable that wasn’t made more delicious by roasting and purple cabbage and potatoes may be among my favorites. Find the smallest potatoes you can, or halve anything larger then a golf ball.
If you leave off any bread on the side and check your labels for the sausage, this dish is also gluten-free, dairy-free, and Whole 30 compliant.
A quick note about the sausage here: We always pre-cooked sausage. The timing gets tricky when starting with raw sausage and the chicken/turkey varieties are usually pre-cooked anyway.
SPD: German red cabbage, potatoes, and sausage
1/2 small head red cabbage, ¾ inch thick slices
1 lb small potatoes
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1 lb pre-cooked turkey or chicken sausage (we use Wellshire Farms turkey kielbasa)
Dijonnaise
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Heat oven to 425.
Thickly slice the cabbage into ¾ inch thick steaks. Spread out on your baking sheet along with the small potatoes. Brush or spray with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Cook for 20 minutes or until the cabbage starts to singe in the sides.
Remove the sheet pan from the oven and tuck the sausage in with the potatoes and cabbage. I have cooked the sausage from frozen and when already defrosted, and it takes about the same amount of time.
If desired, smash the potatoes slightly with the bottom of a mug or measuring cup and spray or brush on more olive oil for a crispier, crunchier potato.
Return to the oven and cook for 10 more minutes or until the centers of the cabbage steaks are fork tender.
Yield: dinner for 3 adults or 2 adults and 2 children (with possibly some leftovers depending on how much your kids actually eat.)
