Like most New Yorkers(and people in general), I’m mildly obsessed with Trader Joe’s. Granted. I don’t live near one nor do I frequently shop there, but when I do, I always end up leaving with several bags filled with goodies, many of which I’ve never seen/tried before. So the last time I went, I picked up some of their famous cauliflower gnocchi that pretty much everyone except for me seems to have tried.

And I gotta say, it’s a pretty good substitute for pasta. You can barely taste the cauliflower, if you can at all. And if you douse it in oil and throw it in the oven, it becomes nice and crispy.

Ok I don’t know what’s in this sausage but it was so good that I bought two more packages the next time I went to whole foods. Yum.

However, it is fairly bland on its own, so you have to add lots of fun things to it. For me, that means dousing it in creamy blistered tomato sauce, and combining with sausage, peas, and spinach. It’s rich without being too heavy, and super easy and quick to make. Like all dinner recipes should be, in my opinion. So you can focus on more important things. Like getting back to finishing the most recent season of your favorite tv show, or watching tik toks.

I also added peas and spinach, mostly because I really haven’t been eating as much green things as I should be, and also I feel like peas and sausage always taste really good together. Plus sausage, peas, and spinach are all things you can freeze really easily and use later, which is super important these days.

I should also elaborate on the sauce. It’s made of whipped cottage cheese and blistered tomatoes. Strange combo, I know. But trust me on this. When you blend cottage cheese in a food processor, it becomes all creamy, and when you add jammy, blistered tomatoes to it, you create this creamy sauce that’s kind of like vodka sauce, but without any vodka. Which I can never taste in penne alla vodka anyways.

Another important note: I use garlic salt instead of regular salt in this dish. It’s not necessary, but I think garlic salt makes pretty much every savory dish better. And especially and tomato-y, creamy, pasta dish like this.

I’ve been putting it on literally everything since I was a small child, ever since a friend’s mom who owned a restaurant recommended it to us. In fact, we had to pay a premium to order some more off of amazon, because we were almost out.

Finally, when you toss everything together, something amazing happens. You get this extremely comforting, healthy-ish dish that kinda feels like a warm hug. It might even stop you from ordering takeout for the 7th night in a row. Not that that’s a horrible idea either right now, considering how much restaurants are hurting. But several consecutive nights of takeout can be kinda risky for your bank account.

And lastly (and most importantly), it’s crucial to top the pasta with lots and lots of parmesan. It practically makes the dish.

creamy tomato and sausage cauliflower gnocchi

serves: two

cooking time: 30 minutes

ingredients:

1 package frozen Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi
1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes
2 chicken sausage links (I used these https://bilinski.com/product/wild-mushroom/ ), sliced
1/2 cup of peas
1 1/2 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 cup cottage cheese
Lawry’s garlic salt and freshly grated black pepper
avocado oil(or any cooking oil you have will do, it doesn’t really matter)
(optional) grated parmesan cheese, for garnish

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Line a baking sheet with greased aluminum foil or parchment paper, and place the still frozen cauliflower gnocchi on the sheet. Toss gnocchi in oil until fully coated, and make sure gnocchi is evenly spread out and in one layer before placing tray in oven. Cook gnocchi until slightly crisp and tender, tossing occassionally, approximately 20 minutes.
Blister the tomatoes: take medium saucepan:, heat up about 1 tbs. oil over medium-high heat, then add tomatoes. Wait for tomatoes to begin splitting and soften up, then press down to smash them. Remove tomatoes from heat and set aside.
In food processor, pulse cottage cheese until creamy, then add tomato mixture and pulse until fully incorporated.
Place 1 tbs. oil into medium saucepan over medium-high heat, and add sausage, sauteeing until slightly crisp.
Add in peas and spinach, cooking until spinach is wilted, and then add the sauce and let simmer until sauce slightly thickens. Season with garlic salt and pepper to taste.
Add in roasted gnocchi to sauce mixture, and toss until gnocchi is evenly coated.
Serve on plates, and garnish with copious amounts of grated parmesan cheese.