Loaded Gnocchi

Since gnocchi are mostly potato, I had the idea to serve them with my favorite baked potato toppings. This dish came out amazing! It was one of the fattiest richest things I have cooked in awhile, complete with a bacon fat-butter-sour cream sauce, but it was worth every calorie. The possibilities are endless here, you could top these with whatever you like on your potato. I like mine with chili! The potato flavor really came through in the final dish and everything meshed really well together.

Chili ingredients. Basically what I had kicking around in the fridge.

Nice browned veggies. After this, the beef, spices, and tomatoes went in.

Gnocchi dough. Yukon potatoes were baked and riced, then I added just enough flour to hold everything together.

I like to flatten the gnocchi on the fork, then roll it off into the classic gnocchi shape.

Now its time to make the sauce. First cook bacon and remove it from the pan.

After the butter browned I added the sour cream.

Toss the cooked gnocchi in the sauce, but be gentle! They are very fragile.

After the chili simmered about an hour it tasted pretty amazing.

YUMMMMMMMMMM. I took a million pictures of this and I was only able to narrow it down to 5… I was unable to delete any more of them cause they all look so tasty!

The gnocchi was ONLY 6 medium yukon gold potatoes baked and run through a ricer (dont mash them!), about 3/4 cup of flour, and some salt. Try to not mash it or knead it, just mix lightly until it comes together. Then roll it up into a long snake and cut into gnocchi sized pieces. Roll them on the tines of a fork to create the classic gnocchi shape. (see pictures above for some tips) Boil about 3 minutes until they float. Toss into sauce, but be really gentle cause these things are fragile. These were the lightest, fluffyest, most melt in your mouth gnocchi I have ever had.

For the sauce, cook some bacon, remove it from the pan and set aside for garnish. Remove some of the extra bacon fat, but leave enough to coat the pan. Add a half stick of butter and some garlic. When the butter is lightly browned, add 1 cup of sour cream and mix it in.

The chili was sort of a clean-the-fridge-out recipe. 1 lb of beef gets browned, then removed from the pan. Drain most of the fat. Cook onion, pepper, parsnip, and carrot in the remaining fat until lightly browned. Add garlic and habanero. Add some spices. (my blend was lots of cumin, ancho, and chipotle powder, some coriander, black pepper, and a pinch of cinnamon and clove) Add the beef back in, followed by 3 cans of diced tomatoes. Tablespoon of brown sugar and simmer for an hour. Half way through add a can of black beans. Normally I prefer a chili that is based on chile stock, but with a potato I like tomato based chili.

Put the gnocchi that is coated in the sour cream butter sauce on your plate. Top with the chili and bacon, and add some cheddar and chives.