Fennel Gnocchi

For my wedding, someone gave me a recipe book by Rachael Ray called "2,4,6,8 great meals for couples or crowds."

I made a bunch of recipes from it the first couple months of marriage, and one of them we liked SO much that it became a regular meal that I make frequently.

The original recipe is for 6 people, but it makes way too much so I modified it. This makes enough for 3 big servings, or 4 servings with a side dish.

6 oz sausage (NOT ground. I use Saags Polish sausage because the flavor is fantastic. Whatever kind of sausage you use, make sure it isn't maple flavor. The original recipe calls for chicken sausage.)

1 onion, chopped

1 fennel bulb, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 T tomato paste (I often have leftover paste from a can that I put in a ziplock bag and keep in the freezer. Or you can buy it in tubes.)

1/3-1/2 cup white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1 pound gnocchi (Italian potato dumplings. Found in the pasta aisle)

1 oz cream cheese (except I hardly ever have cream cheese, so it is usually left out)

1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. (the real stuff tastes so much better than what Kraft makes in the tall green can)

Put a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Then put in sliced sausages, onion, garlic, and fennel. Then heat on medium until onions and fennel are soft. Add the tomato paste and stir it in. Then add the wine and let it simmer for a couple minutes or so.

Meanwhile, boil some water. Add gnocchi and cook based on directions. Then strain. Ideally, the gnocchi will finish cooking just before it's time to add them to the skillet.

Add chicken stock to the skillet and heat until boiling. Add cream cheese. Simmer for a few minutes so sauce can cook down and become creamy.

Then add cooked gnocchi to the skillet and stir. Add cheese and parsley.

The end. This takes about 40 minutes once you get it down.

(P.S. To make the original recipe: double everything except the fennel, garlic, and paste.)