Gnocchi with Mascarpone and Tomato sauce
If you are looking for mascarpone recipes, try this mascarpone and tomato sauce with gnocchi recipe today. This mascarpone gnocchi recipe is a restaurant-quality pasta dish that you can make on any night of the week. Everyone will be asking for seconds!
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried gnocchi
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms / baby bella , (cleaned and sliced)
- 2 oz chopped shallots
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- a pinch of red pepper flakes, (or more according to your liking)
- ¼ cup Vodka, (or use white wine)
- ½ cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1⅓ cups marinara sauce
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese, (or more according to your liking)
- 1 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese, (and more for serving)
- salt and black pepper, (to taste)
Instructions
- In a deep skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Cook shallots and mushrooms for 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and stir until fragrant. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes.
- Turn the heat to medium. Add vodka and deglaze the pan by gently scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula. Continue cooking until the vodka is almost gone.
- Turn the heat to medium-low. Add broth and simmer for 2 minutes. Add marinara sauce and simmer for 5 minutes or until thickened.
- While the sauce is simmering, bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Season with salt and cook the gnocchi, following pack instructions. Remove the cooked gnocchi from the pot and reserve some pasta water for the sauce.
- Add spinach to marinara sauce and cook until it's wilted. Turn off the heat.
- Add mascarpone and parmesan cheese. Stir until the sauce is smooth. Taste and add salt and black pepper if needed.
- Add gnocchi and ¼ cup of pasta water. Stir to combine. If the sauce is too thick, add few tablespoons of pasta water.
Notes
Storage. You can keep the leftovers for 2-3 days in the fridge or up to 2 months in the freezer.
Always use freshly grated cheese. Fresh cheese creates a creamier and fresher-tasting sauce. In addition, fresh cheese will prevent clump and gritty texture in the sauce because they melt better than pre-grated cheese.
To create a smooth sauce. Make sure that you turn off the heat before adding mascarpone and parmesan cheese to the sauce. You also want to add the parmesan cheese bit-by-bit as you stir the liquid and pasta, so the cheese melts evenly and avoids clumping.
To thin out the sauce. It's so much easier to thin the sauce instead of thickening it after adding spinach, gnocchi, mascarpone cheese, and parmesan cheese. For this reason, give the sauce enough time to reduce and concentrate the flavor before adding the last 4 ingredients. If you think the sauce is too thick, you can always add a small amount of pasta water after you add gnocchi until it reaches the desired consistency.
Nutrition
Calories: 429kcalCarbohydrates: 52gProtein: 12gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 935mgPotassium: 719mgFiber: 5gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 2945IUVitamin C: 14mgCalcium: 158mgIron: 6mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!