Gnocchi is a great store cupboard essential to have in so that you can whip up a delicious home made tea really quickly and simply. We often have it with a nice tomatoey sauce usually but tonight I thought I would try something different. The result was this delicious creamy baked delight.
The sauce feels really luxurious even though the whole thing is only 11sp and the kale gives it a lovely crunchy and fresh lift.
If you can’t get any Heck sausages, you could replace them with 350g diced chicken breast, frying as you would the sausages at the same point. This would make the dish 9sp per serving.
Creamy Baked Chicken and Kale Gnocchi
Serves 4 = 11sp per serving (Flex)
Ingredients
1 pack of Heck Chicken Sausages
½ tsp paprika and crushed chillies
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 peppers, deseeded and finely diced
1 box of chestnut mushrooms, sliced (optional)
1 tsp plain flour
1 chicken stock cube, made up with 200 ml of boiling water
1 tbsp sun dried tomato pesto (or any pesto you fancy)
100ml white wine (optional)
4 tsp half fat crème fraiche
500g bag of kale
500g pack of gnocchi
40g half fat mature cheddar, grated
20g parmesan, grated
Method
Preheat the oven to 180c.
Squeeze the sausages out of their skins and crumble into a large frying pan. Season well, add the paprika and crushed chillies and fry on a medium/high heat in 1kal for 5-6 minutes until the sausage meat starts to brown and is cooked through. Remove the sausage meat from the pan.
In the same pan fry the onions for 5 minutes until 1kal until they start to soften and then add the peppers, garlic and mushrooms and fry for another few minutes. Add the flour, stir through and fry for another minute.
Next add the stock, wine and pesto and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. Add the crème fraiche and the sausages back to the pan, stir and turn the heat down to low. Continue to warm while you prepare the kale and gnocchi.
Fill a large pan with salted boiling water. Add the kale and simmer for 4 minutes, then add the gnocchi to the same pan and simmer for 3 minutes until the gnocchi rises to the surface. Drain the gnocchi and kale and then add the creamy sauce.
Tip everything into a baking dish, top with the half fat cheese and parmesan and then pop into the oven for 15 minutes to bake.
Serve with a nice green side salad.
Enjoy!
Hi Laura can you puree the sauce as my kids don’t like bits!
Hi Amanda, you could puree the creamy sauce but I’m not sure what kale would be like pureed 🙂 x
Can this be frozen thanks
Hi can this be ‘re heated or frozen?
Hi Lindsey, I’ve never frozen this one and reheated before but I can’t see any reason why not, just make sure you bake it til piping hot before you eat. If possible it might be nicer to put the Parmesan and cheese on after freezing too X
Just made this and it was absolutely gorgeous!! My fussy 2.5 year old cleared her plate too!
So pleased you liked it ?
I love this recipe! I make it regularly now, although have replaced the kale for spinach. Re the comments above about making and freezing, I can confirm that it freezes and reheats well! I make the whole recipe and then put it into 4 little tin foil dishes for 11sp each. I top them with the cheese, but don’t bake them at that point. Once they’re cool, it’s lids on and they’re into the freezer. I defrost them while I’m at work and then pop them in the oven for 30mins with the lid off. Yum!
Thanks for that Katie, great to know it freezes so well. Love the sound of your little foil dishes too!
Hello Laura
What would be the recipe to have this with tomato sauce rather than kale please and what would the points be ?
Thank you
Sue
Think I’ll try this but use spinach Instead of kale ?