Gnocchi With Toasted Mushrooms and White Wine Cream Sauce

This gnocchi is creamy and rich with a hearty flavor from the bacon and mushrooms and a light tang from the white wine all topped with crisp fried sage. A bowl of this pillowy gnocchi will certainly warm you on a chilly winter night.

I have suggested for this recipe to use the fat from the bacon to fry the other elements, this adds a richness to the flavors and saves cleaning the pan in between sautéing each element. However, if you follow this method keep a close eye on your pan and heat levels, if too much sticks to the bottom and starts to burn, clean out your pan before proceeding. You can just substitute the bacon fat for little butter in your next step.

If you would like a whiter looking sauce and a lighter flavor profile, I suggest going with the method of cleaning the pan in between each element and using butter or olive oil instead of the bacon fat.

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

16oz gnocchi
1 1/2 cup of bacon chopped into small pieces
8 sage leaves
8oz mushrooms thinly sliced
1/2 onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup white wine
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp thyme
Salt to taste

Directions:

In a high walled skillet cook the bacon. Remove the bacon to a tray lined with paper towels to drain. Do not discard the grease! We will be using this instead of oil or butter, it will carry a super rich flavor throughout the dish.

Over medium heat fry the sage leaves in the bacon fat, remove to the tray with paper towels for later.

Cook the gnocchi according to your package instructions. When they float to the top use a slotted spoon to transfer them to skillet and brown them in the bacon fat for a few minutes until they are toasted. Remove to the tray with paper towels to be added back in later.

Add the onions to the skillet with the bacon fat and sauté for 2-3 minutes until they begin to soften, toss in the mushrooms and garlic and sauté until the mushrooms are browned and cooked through. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and scrape any browned bits up from the bottom of the pan. Add in the thyme and pepper and simmer for 2-3 minutes until reduced by about half.

Reduce the heat to low, stir in the cream and parmesan and mix until the cheese is fully melted.

Add the gnocchi and bacon back into the pan and toss to coat in the sauce and warm through. Taste and add salt if necessary, the bacon and parmesan will already bring a lot of salt to the dish. Top with the fried sage.