Creamy Mushroom & Spinach Gnocchi

I love mushrooms. Mushrooms on pizza. Mushrooms on a cheesesteak. Mushrooms on a burger. I love 'em all. This recipe came about by way of ADD: a distracting social media clip drug me in.

Of course, I can't speak to the random ones you come across in the woods. I'm not of the very special group of individuals that safely identify a mushroom in the wild. No, not me. I'd wind up dead in less than 24 hours from consuming the wrong one.

That got me wondering: what brave souls first found these odd items in the woods and decided to try them? Mushrooms as a food have been documented as far back as 600 EC as they were picked by the Chinese and Japanese. And to tie it back to my Greek roots, Aristotle wrote about mushrooms, too.

I also learned that some species are bioluminescent, which makes sense given the bioluminescent kayaking I've done alongside glowing algae. It's a must for me to see a glowing mushroom at some point in my life.

This recipe features my homemade gnocchi, which I froze some of after making recently, served alongside a creamy mushroom and spinach sauce. I decided to add a spinach and feta chicken sausage, and sliced it and cooked it first. I wanted the slices to be browned on both sides and hold together well in the dish.

After this, I added some baby bella mushrooms and cooked them for 7-10 minutes; they needed to be nice and soft.

The crazy thing about this is that it looks and feels like a cheese sauce, but it's just cream. Although a cheese person, I think sometimes cheese is added as a novelty; as if we are so familiar with creamy cheese dishes, we feel a dish cannot qualify if cheese is missing. I'm here to prove ya wrong.

I added some chicken broth, cream, fresh thyme, paprika, and crushed red pepper, then stirred everything together. I added the gnocchi, heated it to a simmer.

After a few minutes, I added the spinach and stirred it in.

I let the sauce keep cooking until the spinach was wilted, then as a final step, added back in the chicken sausage.

A hearty, flavorful dish was born.

It's fantastic fresh, but keeps well. Like many pasta dishes, overnight the gnocchi continued absorbing flavor from the sauce.

Mushrooms for the win.

I would qualify this dish as impressively good. The combination of thyme with the sauce and the dash of paprika added a complexity I very much enjoyed. The gnocchi cooked well in the dish, and of course, the mushrooms were stellar. For a quick and easy dinner, this one is a solid bet.

I'm certain minor tweaks on this can take the recipe in many directions. Use ravioli instead of gnocchi. Add thinly sliced onion, or perhaps some white wine to the sauce. A+ for a solid dish.

Creamy Mushroom & Spinach Gnocchi Recipe

Ingredients:

4 chicken sausage links (I used spinach and feta)

2 tablespoons cooking oil (I used avocado)

8 ounces baby bella mushrooms

1 cup chicken broth

1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1.5 cups gnocchi (16 ounces)

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika (or regular)

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 cups fresh spinach

Instructions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add one tablespoon of cooking oil. Slice sausage and cook for about 5 minutes, until cooked throughout. Remove from pan and set aside. Add remaining cooking oil and mushrooms. Cook for 7-10 minutes, until mushrooms are soft. Add chicken broth and heavy cream, then stir in thyme, paprika, and crushed red pepper. Heat to a simmer, then add gnocchi. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 5 minutes, then add fresh spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted.

adapted from creamy spinach and mushroom gnocchi