Skillet Gnocchi with Parmesan

I was roasting a chicken the other night and realized I hadn’t thought up a side to go with it when deciding to cook the chicken. I had a bit of bacon left in the fridge from another meal so I decided to fry that up. Of course bacon with chicken isn’t really a complete meal. 🙂 so I went in search of something more. After a quick pantry consultation I decided on some gnocchi. It was hot so I didn’t want to bring a whole pot of water to boil so I thought I’d give cooking it in a skillet a try. It came out great.

Skillet Gnocchi with Parmesan
Servings: 3-4
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Tbsp. bacon fat
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 17.5 oz. pkg. potato gnocchi
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Heat fat and and broth in a 12″ non-stick skillet until broth is boiling.
2. Add gnocchi, spread into a single layer and cover. Cook for 2-3 minutes; check for doneness. Continue cooking for another minute if they aren’t done.
3. When cooked through sprinkle with red pepper flakes and grated cheese. Stir to incorporate. Turn off heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes so that sauce may thicken slightly.
4. Taste for seasoning. Add salt (sparingly) and fresh ground black pepper if desired.

Notes:
The bacon fat adds a bit of flavor to a very basic dish. Along with the chicken broth it provides all the salt needed. It can be omitted; I’d double check the seasoning if you do.

Potato Gnocchi, Sausage and Spinach

This dish is a weeknight pantry/fridge raid with a package of shelf-stable gnocchi providing the starting point.

Potato Gnocchi, Sausage and Spinach
Servings: 4-6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 45

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. Italian sweet sausage
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, 1/4″ dice
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• kosher salt
• 2 tsp. Penzeys Mural Of Flavor (see note)
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 lb. potato gnocchi
• 1 6 oz. bag spinach, rinsed and spun
• Parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions:

1. Place sausages and 1/2 cup water in a lidded skillet and heat over medium. Cook for 5-7 minutes; cook until internal temp reaches 160°F. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile heat a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the gnocchi according to the package. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain.
3. Dump out excess water from the skillet and wipe skillet dry. Return skillet to medium heat and add the olive oil. When the oil begins to shimmer add the onions along with a pinch of kosher salt. Stir to coat and cook for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds or until fragrants. Add the red pepper flakes and spice blend. Stir to incorporate and bloom the spices.
4. Add the spinach along with the reserved pasta water. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring periodically. The spinach will wilt down to less than a cup in volume.
5. While the spinach cooks slice the sausages into bite-size pieces.
6. When the spinach is fully cooked add the sausages and gnoochi. Toss to combine. Cover and cook long enough to reheat sausages.
7. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Notes:
Penzeys Mural Of Flavor is one of my favorite spice blends. If you don’t have it you could substitute 1 tsp. dried thyme, 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp. ground coriander and 1/4 tsp. dried citrus peel.

I prefer to boil the potato gnocchi for a little longer than the package recommends. In my case the package said 2 minutes in boiling water. At that point they were warmed through but still a little dense for my taste. An extra minute made them a little lighter and less chewy.

Gnocchi with Swiss Chard and Beans

Weeknight meals can be tough. We both work and arrive home in varying states of tired, grumpy and whiny. An easy to prep, easy to cook recipe goes a long way to making dinner the start of a good evening.

The recipe is based heavily on Skillet Gnocchi with Chard & White Beans. I modified it to fit what we had in the house, added some much needed additional flavoring and wrote it up in my own words.