Teachers have to eat: Baked Gnocchi with Chicken

Baked Gnocchi with Chicken

Oh, this is so yummy. I saw the recipe a few days ago in October's Food Network Magazine and knew I had to make it. Here's a link to their recipe. I followed their recipe for the most part, although I made a revision or two to cut down on calories and due to preference.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced

Kosher salt & ground pepper

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1&1/2 cups 2% milk

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

 about 2 cups cooks chicken (could use left over, rotisserie chicken or just brown some)

1  package potato gnocchi (around 17.5 ounces)

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (I used fresh)

Pre-heat oven to 425. Make sure rack is in the top 3rd of the oven.

First, brown the mushrooms in the olive oil in a skillet. Stir in some salt and pepper. Brown for about 4 minutes. Then transfer to a bowl. Wipe out skillet for next step.

Next, melt butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for about 3 minutes.

Whisk in milk and chicken broth until smooth. Simmer and whisk continually until it is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 teaspoon salt and nutmeg.

Add chicken, mushrooms, gnocchi, and spinach to the sauce. Stir until coated and spinach is wilted. 

Since I'm not totally sure if my skillet is oven-safe, I transferred to a small casserole dish and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes, till it's nice and bubbly. Switch oven to broil and let it broil until the top is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. And then, voila!

It's yummy and really not very difficult. Because I had to brown the chicken first, the whole thing took me about 50 minutes from start to eating. I think I could have saved some time if I had the ingredients pre-measured and set aside. Enjoy!