Dinner from the Pantry...Gnocchi with Spinach Bacon & Mozzarella

I'm still cooking from the pantry, trying to prepare for hurricane season. Today I discovered way in the back of the food closet something I must have bought years ago and never used. It was gnocchi shaped pasta from DeCecco that must have been bought by mistake thinking it was the real thing. By now, readers of this blog will know that I hate baking and working with flour, so you are never going to catch me making fresh gnocchi, even though I love it to death. It is one of those things that I save to order when I go out to an Italian restaurant.

Gnocchi is also the name given to the dry whimsical shape pasta family. They originate in the Campania region in the South of Italy. Their shape is fashioned after an empty grooved cone. They are usually 32 mm long whereas their thickness is between 1,15 and 1,30 mm. Gnocchi can be served with light tomato or meat sauces; it is also superb with pesto. Unfortunately, tonight none of these options were a possibility, but a quick look inside the refrigerator put some creative wheels in motion. As I have mentioned before, if you have a well stocked pantry, and this includes the refrigerator and the freezer, you can always put something together. On a few occasions, even you will surprise yourself, like I did tonight.

Not only did i come out with a great new recipe, I have also discovered a new pasta shell to work with! If you can't find gnocchi shaped pasta in your supermarket, try orecchetti, fussilli or any other shells or ridge shapes. Also go to my store on the right and look under gourmet food. The sauce is also delicious with real gnocchi, like the one in the main photo above from Flickr.

Ingredients

8 oz DeCecco Gnocchi or gnocchi shaped pasta

1/2 pckg frozen spinach (4 oz)

4 strips bacon

2 Tb butter

1/2 Onion

2 garlic cloves

1/2 Cup heavy cream

1 TB shredded mozarella

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese



Instructions


Boil gnocchi with spinach 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Cook 4 strips bacon in microwave 5 minutes. Cut in 1 in. pieces

In another pan melt 2tb butter. Saute 1/2 onion and garlic cloves. Remove garlic and discard.

Add 1/2 cup heavy cream, Boil down until thickened.Add 1 tb mozzarella stirring until it melts. This will add body to the sauce.

Add the cream sauce to the gnocchi and spinach.

Add the bacon pieces

Add 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese

Serve immediately and pass the extra parmesan around.