Sausage & Roast Vegetable Gnocchi

We were fans of Melissa D’Arabian when she was on the Next Food Network Star contest. Her recipes are always easy to follow, inexpensive, and pretty tasty too. I’ve been roasting vegetables a lot lately for side dishes. This takes that idea and turns into the focus. She used Penne’ pasta in her recipe, I had some spinach gnocchi on hand so I used that instead of pasta.

Sausage & Roast Vegetable Gnocchi

1 sweet onion, cut into wedges
1 medium zucchini, sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
1 red bell pepper, cheeks removed
1/2 pound button mushrooms, stemmed
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Kosher Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, washed and dried
2 sweet or hot Italian sausages, thinly sliced or casings removed
1/4 cup white wine
12 ounces shelf stable gnocchi, cooked according to package instructions
1/2 cup pasta water, reserved
Freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a bowl, toss all the vegetables, except the tomatoes, with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange on a baking sheet and roast, until caramelized, about 30 minutes, turning vegetables halfway through the cooking time. In a small bowl, add the tomatoes and the remaining olive oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and add to the baking sheet, at the halfway point of cooking, to caramelize.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, add the sausage and saute until cooked through. Turn up the heat and deglaze with white wine. Once the vegetables are cooked, cool slightly, then coarsely chop. Add the vegetables and any pan juices to the sausage in the skillet. Toss in the cooked gnocchi, adding reserved pasta water, if needed, to moisten. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve in bowls topped with Parmesan.