Gnocchi Bake

I used to make gnocchi all the time and then suddenly stopped.  I'm not totally sure why, but I think it has to do with how heavy it can be.  It's the size and shape of pasta, but it's made with potato so if you eat it like a bowl of macaroni, you'll get full fast.  I decided it was time to bring it back into my diet, but needed to apologize to my dear gnocchi for neglecting it for so long so I decided to dress it up in a baking dish instead of a boring old sauce.

After cooking the gnocchi, I lined a large ramekin with it and then topped it with marinara sauce.  Yes, the marinara sauce was from a jar, but I added bacon to it to make it special and smoky.  I then added a couple dollops of fresh ricotta cheese and grated parmesan.  It's all cooked, so I stuck it in the oven just long enough to brown the cheese.

My favorite thing about this meal was the presentation.  Not only did it look cute in the ramekin (would be great for dinner parties), it was automatic portion control.  The addition of bacon gave some extra flavor and substance to this otherwise meat-free dish.  Gnocchi is heavy on its own so adding beef on top of that is a little too much.  Bacon provided the meat flavor without taking up too much space in the tummy.  Since ricotta is sweet, I think combining it with the parmesan is important to add a little salt.

Welcome back to the rotation, gnocchi.