Mushroom Gnocchi with Meatballs

Cheat's meatballs & mixed mushroom sauce, served on my Easy Ricotta Gnocchi.

Course Main, Main Course

Cuisine Australian, Modern Australian

Total Time 35

Servings

Calories 566kcal

Author Lee-Ann Grace

Ingredients

450 g good quality pork sausages
400 g mixed mushrooms - thickly sliced - I used shiitake oyster, king brown, button/cup & portobello
80 g mild pancetta - roughly chopped
2 tablespoon salted butter
½ cup dry white wine
2 garlic cloves - crushed
2 teaspoon french mustard
500 g store-bought gnocchi or make your own with my Easy Ricotta Gnocchi
grated fresh parmesan for serving
fresh thyme optional for serving

Instructions

Squeeze sausage meat from casings & form into bite size rustic meatballs.
Heat a non-stick fry pan over medium high heat & fry meatballs for 4 - 5 mins,or until just cooked, remove the meatballs to a plate & carefully wipe out any excess fat in the pan using kitchen towel/paper (see notes).
Turn the heat down to medium low & add pancetta to pan, frying for 2 mins or until browned and add to plate with meatballs.
Add mushrooms to pan along with butter and fry for 4 - 5 mins, or until mushrooms start to colour & soften.
Cook store-bought gnocchi (if using) according to packet directions (see notes).
Turn the heat up to medium high, add wine, mustard & garlic to pan & bring to a rapid simmer - simmer until wine has reduced by half.
Add back meatballs & pancetta, mixing to heat through.
If serving with gnocchi, add the cooked gnocchi to the pan along with 1 - 2 tablespoon of gnocchi cooking water to thicken the sauce.
Serve immediately topped with fresh thyme & parmesan.

Notes

For those of you who are thinking of giving the Easy Ricotta Gnocchi a go (go on, you know you wanna!) they are start to finish in 30 minutes, about 15-18 of which is the prep/rolling. So if you prep the gnocchi first, then boil the water & put them in to cook when you add the wine to the mushrooms in the pan - all you have to do is ladle the cooked gnocchi along with some of the cooking water into the sauce & toss. Preparing the gnocchi should only add about 20 minutes on to your total cooking time.

A note about the oyster mushrooms - they are quite delicate & so end up looking quite limp next the other, more sturdy mushroom varieties. If you want to avoid this just keep them aside & only add them in during the last 1 -2 mins of mushroom frying time. Or if you are like me, just bung them all in at once and if you are taking a photo for your blog just leave out the oyster mushies out of your photo. Simple. They still taste good.

If your sausage meat has rendered a fair bit of fat when you fried the meatballs and you need to wipe out the pan, don't wipe ALL of it out. Just leave a little to fry the pancetta in.

Feel free to use store-bought ready-made gnocchi if you wish. If gnocchi isn't your thing you could also serve this mushroom & meatball sauce over pasta or creamy mashed potato.

*Please note that the amount of calories per serve is provided as a guide only, as ingredients and cooking methods can vary greatly*

Nutrition