Ricotta and Gnocchi Gratin

Gnocchi:

1. Cook the washed potatoes in well-salted water. Drain and allow to evaporate a little. Then cut in half while still hot and place in the potato press with the cut facing down. Press through and then remove the shell from the press. Gradually press through all the potatoes and let the mixture cool down a little.
2. Put the still lukewarm mashed potatoes together with ricotta, 30 g Parmesan, egg yolk, nutmeg, salt, pepper, flour and semolina in a bowl and mix quickly with a wooden trowel. The mass is quite soft and sticky and later results in finished gnocchi of approx. 650 g.
3. Sprinkle the work surface well with semolina, roll a large blob of dough in it until it no longer sticks and then shape it into an approx. 2 cm thick roll. Cut about 1.5 cm thick pieces from it, shape them into a ball and then roll them with very gentle pressure over the gnocchi board – also sprinkled with a little semolina. If this is not available, press the balls in gently with a fork. Do this with the rest of the batter until it is used up. In between, sprinkle semolina on the board and work surface.
4. Bring plenty of well-salted water to the boil in a large saucepan. Then turn the temperature down halfway, slide the gnocchi into the water and let it steep until they rise to the surface. Lift out with a perforated ladle, drain thoroughly and place in the later (not buttered!) Casserole dish.

Salsiccia:

1. Dissolve the salsiccia from the intestines, roughly chop. Peel the onion and cut into small cubes. Skin the garlic, finely chop.
2. Fry everything at the same time in a pan in hot oil and lightly pepper. When the sausage has turned some color, add the whole mixture to the gnocchi and mix well with them.

Sauce:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 °. Heat the poultry or vegetable stock in a saucepan. Stir in the crème fraîche and bring to the boil. Then remove the pan from the heat and add the gorgonzola cut into small cubes. Stir until it has dissolved in the hot liquid. Season to taste, add a little salt if necessary and stir in the oil.
2. Pour the sauce over the gnocchi and salsiccia, sprinkle the remaining 30 g of Parmesan on top and place everything in the oven for 15 minutes on the middle rack. After this, switch the oven to grill function and let the Parmesan take on color for another 5 minutes. If the grill function is not available, set the oven to 240 ° for 5 minutes.
3. Since the ricotta gnocchi are very soft, they are also very absorbent. So it may be that at the end of the sauce, hardly anything can be seen. We like it that way. But if you prefer it “more liquid”, you should double the amount of sauce from the start.
4. The “fresh” side dish was a mixed leaf salad with a dressing of sour cream.