Potato Gnocchi in a Bacon Cream Sauce

This recipe has converted countless Brussels Sprouts haters into full-fledged lovers, and it’s all because of that bacon cream sauce!

I’m just going to give you a minute to stare at the picture while repeating, “Bacon Cream Sauce… bacon cream sauce… bacon cream sauce”. Yes, you can do it out loud or in your head.

This dish truly left me speechless, and if you know me, you know that’s virtually impossible.  But this… this dish.  Dear sweet baby Jesus, it was amazing!  And the kicker.. this was something I threw together on a whim. I knew I wanted Brussels Sprouts and gnocchi but just wasn’t into a tomato sauce. I could not have asked for an easier and seriously amazingly delicious dish.

I had made the gnocchi already. Normally, I make it from scratch, but I was so burnt out from work that I had no energy to do it.

Since I knew Mr. Fantabulous doesn’t like gnocchi I opted to make him the Brussels Sprouts and some crispy potato rounds.

I love bacon.  You know I love bacon.  I know you know I love bacon.  So, for me, when I have these sprouts, bacon is pretty much a certainty.   That saltiness tames down the sometimes bitterness of the sprout.  The thing is I needed a sauce of sorts. 

I didn’t want marinara sauce as that was not something I was craving.  I wanted creamy, decadent… sinful, perhaps, since I busted my butt (literally) earlier in the day at the gym.

Without knowing what type of sauce I’d make for this I decided to just let it happen naturally.

I fried up the bacon, and as that was rendering, I sliced the sprouts in half, leaving the core intact.  If you don’t cut them in half (with a top and bottom), they tend to fall apart when you cook them.  Trust me, I made that mistake.  It’s still good but not exactly presentable. I removed the crispy bacon from the pan; I placed the sprouts cut side down in the bacon grease to create a fantastic bacon caramelized char. 

After cooking for a few minutes, I flipped those gorgeous babies over and let the outside char up beautifully.  You can see just how awesome they look.

I removed them from the pan to work on some sauce. To aid in creating a sauce, I added a bit of butter, and as that melted, I grabbed a shallot. Do you cook with shallots ever? Do you know what the difference is between a shallot and an onion?

Shallots, like onions and garlic, are a member of the allium family, but their flavor is richer, sweeter, and more potent. Like garlic, they grow in clusters, with several bulbs attached at the base. You’ll recognize them by their coppery skins and their off-white flesh, which is usually tinged with magenta.

Shallots add a great depth of flavor to pan sautés, soups, sauces, and stews, and pair especially well with chicken and fish. To substitute one for the other in recipes, use half the amount of shallot that you would onion.

I sliced up the shallot in small rounds and tossed it in the foaming butter along with the cooked gnocchi.  The butter had that warm, nutty, smelly infused with bacon and onion awesomeness. 

The rest of this honestly just fell into place.  With the heavy cream, it’s not exactly the healthiest, and you could easily use half and half, but I didn’t have any on hand.  To round out the flavors I added in some grated Parmesan and was on my way to HAPPYVILLE! 

Thankfully, Mr. Fantabulous doesn’t like gnocchi; otherwise, he would have so inhaled this dish, and I would have had none.  Trust me when I say one thing:

If you are forced to share this dish with others, make enough for leftovers, though I can guarantee that there will be no leftovers.  I ate two helpings of this dish and was in true carb heaven!   The flavors are so creamy but perfectly balanced with the salty bacon and the caramelized sprouts.

It’s funny because as I was eating this, Mr. Fantabulous came out to the kitchen to see what I was up to. He spied the dish and then took a whiff followed by a very long and deep whiff.  Oh yeah, it smells THAT good!  He came over to inspect my plate further only to give me a disappointed face because he saw gnocchi in it.  However, I begrudgingly said, “Here, at least try the sauce with a Brussels Sprout”. And that was all she wrote…  I was informed that I MUST make him a dish of sprouts JUST LIKE THAT with that sauce.

I’ve made this a few times since creating the recipe and have used other pasta. One night I even added shrimp to the mix to get some extra protein.  Seriously, this dish will overnight become one of your most requested dishes.

IT. IS. THAT. AMAZING!

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