I love Gnocchi Pasta!

If you are a lover of gnocchi pasta, you will certainly love this easy to make casserole. I had to put something together for a last minute pot luck a couple of weeks ago. I wanted something different from the usual casserole dishes and of course I wanted something healthy.  So here it is!  I hope this recipe will help you out in a pinch like it did for me.

Gnocchi Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 pack of gnocchi pasta (plain not cheese stuffed) (gluten free gnocchi if you need)
• ½ cup of vegan Parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup of chopped fresh basil
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary or dried
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme or dried
• 2 sprigs of fresh oregano or dried
• 4 tbsp of olive oil
• ½ cup of sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup of broccoli (florets broken from the stem of ½ broccoli head )
• ½ tsp of scotch bonnet pepper sauce
• 10 roma tomatoes chopped
• 1 ½ large vidalia onion sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic diced
• 1 tsp of fresh ground peppercorn
• 1 tbsp of sea salt

Putting it together

1. Making the sauce

• in a medium saucepan add 2 tbsp of olive oil let heat and add onions and garlic. Let saute for 2 minutes and then add sea salt and mushrooms. Let saute until mushrooms are a bit tender.
• Lower the heat and then add about 1 tbsp of the fresh basil 1 sprig of rosemary, 1 sprig of thyme and 1 sprig of oregano. Let simmer for 2 minutes and then add tomatoes, cover the pot and let cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the tomatoes are mashed and a nice sauce like consistency has developed.
• Then add broccoli and cover pot on low heat for 5 minutes. Then turn off stove and stir in the scotch bonnet pepper sauce. Set sauce aside.

     2. Preparing the gnocchi pasta

• • • in large pan add 4 quarts of water and pinch of salt. When water comes to a full boil add gnocchi pasta and boil for 8 minutes. Then drain and set aside.

3. Preparing to bake Casserole

• Set oven to 350

• Grease casserole dish with olive oil. Add in cooked gnocchi, sauce, some of chopped basil, ½ of the Parmesan cheese and mix everything together and pat down in casserole dish. Sprinkle remainder of basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme ,Parmesan cheese and crushed peppercorn.

• When oven is fully heated put in casserole dish and bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy with a nice glass of your favorite red wine.