Loaded Baked Potato Gnocchi

The very fist recipe contest that I won was a Kosher contest sponsored by the 92nd Street Y in NYC.  (I won a pretty fabulous gift basket of Kosher products.)

Even though I am not Jewish, I wanted to see if I could adapt an existing recipe and win.  At the time, I had been playing around with trying my darndest to win a mac n’ cheese contest.  I just knew my Loaded Baked Potato Mac N’ Cheese would win—I just knew it—and this contest offered BIG money. 

There are no sure things and there are no free lunches.  I didn’t win the BIG contest.  So, I decided to adapt the recipe for the Kosher contest.   Here is the original recipe, and obviously, I left out the bacon. 

Loaded Baked Potato Gnocchi

1 lb. – dried gnocchi with potato
5 slices – bacon
1/3 c. –  onion, finely chopped
4 oz. – cheddar cheese, grated
4 oz. – Colby Jack Cheese, grated
4 oz. –  Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1 (16 oz.) –  Light Sour Cream
2 T. –  chopped fresh, chives
1 T. chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 teaspoon –  salt
1/2 teaspoon –  freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 2 quart casserole baking dish with cooking spray.

Cook gnocchi according to directions. Drain, and set aside.

At the same time, place bacon in skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Remove to paper towels to drain.  Reserve 2 T. of bacon fat and sauté onions until soft.  Also drain onions on paper towels.  After bacon is cool, crumble.

In a large bowl, stir together the cheeses, sour cream, chives, parsley, onions, bacon and salt and pepper.  Mix.  Carefully, fold in cooked gnocchi.  Spoon into prepared baking dish.  Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.  You may garnish with more chives or more fresh cracked pepper.

Gnocchi