Caesar Salad Gnocchi

Caesar salad is the dessert of salads.  Hear me out.  It’s creamy, it’s indulgent, there’s cheese, there’s buttery toasted bread… and sure, there’s lettuce but it’s the friendly kind- crisp and green and watery.  And it’s SALAD.  Except, like just about everything, I can’t leave well enough alone and we’re turning our dessert salad into a pasta dish.  It just feels like a really good idea! 

Listen, life comes at us fast and I want to be sure I have a belly full of comforting gnocchi when it does. 

Here’s what you’ll need: 

•  a package of store-bought gnocchi.  I used DeLallo because I’ve made a disaster of my kitchen and my emotional well-being trying to make my own homemade gnocchi.  

•  Italian sausage though, if that’s not your thing you could totally leave out the meat or add a roasted broccoli for extra veggie. 

•  cubed bread, olive oil, salt, and pepper to toast up some croutons.

•  lettuce (I used romaine before there was that nasty recall so use whatever feels right to you!)

•  Caesar Salad flavors like: anchovy paste, dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, lemon, garlic,  capers, parsley, salt and pepper.

•  And to turn the salad into a creamy pasta dish: heavy cream and parmesan cheese. 

We’ll start by browning the sausage in a splash of olive oil until cooked through and crisp.  The crisp bits are my favorite, they’re everyone’s favorite – so feel free to go hard on the browning.  

Remove the sausage from the pan and heat together the minced garlic and anchovy paste.  You can smell that just reading it, can’t you?  Take it in, it only gets better. 

Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce will add out next layer of flavor – a savory hit of acid and brightness!  Stirring all of the ingredients together over low heat helps bring out all the goodness. 

To all of those savory flavors we’ll add heavy cream (amen), a small handful of parmesan cheese, and a good dose of black pepper.  

Stir to incorporate.  Stir over heat, at almost a simmer, until the mixture thickens just slightly.  

The cooked gnocchi and sausage into the pan.  Toss to coat in the cream sauce and FRIENDS- it’s really starting to come together! 

And platter it up!  Which… to me is almost as satisfying as sitting down with a giant bowl of it.  

Start by spreading roughly chopped lettuce across the platter.  Add the warm, creamy gnocchi (it’ll wilt the lettuce a bit and that’s great actually).  Top with croutons and capers, and extra parmesan cheese.  Marvel at your creation, share your accomplishments, and wow enjoy! 

I developed this recipe for DeLallo (whose cheeseboards I genuinely and deeply love).  Find the gnocchi recipe HERE! It’s really delicious.  Hop upon this train!