Okay, last night’s gnocchi recipe in one single Instant pot…

Boil them JUST until they float. That’s, like, long enough to get out the rest of what you’ll need.

When the little potato dumplins float, scoop then out gently with a wire strainer like this one, and place them in a colander you’ve sprayed with cooking spray. They are sticky.

Pour out the gnocchi water except dor about the last cup and a half, the really cloudy bit. Set it aside. I use a yeti tumbler so it stays hot. You’ll need it later.

Don’t mistake ‘tater water for a hot beverage, though.

Get your instant pot back on the low-low setting, and put in a goodly-but-not-scary amount of butter. In this case, a teaspoon. Then another teaspoon of duck fat. (Or just a bigger scoop of butter if you don’t have duck fat).

The duck fat I used is from Fatworks:

To that, add a cup of whole milk, or if you’re me, a cup of 2%, and a hearty splash of half and half otherwise intended for your coffee creamer.

Now comes the thawed drained spinach. You want to press out all the green-brown water, and plop that whole block in:

Now’s where you add a little of you to it.

Everyone has those cabinet seasonings they put in everything: adobo, Tony Chachere, whatever. Put some of that in so you know it’s yours, and a hearty scoop of minced garlic, fresh ground pepper, and some chicken stock base. I use this:

Whoosh it up. Taste it. Make sure that spinach isn’t sticking. If it looks too thick, add that gnocchi water you saved in quarter cup intervals. The sauce will be a bit thin when you’re done. That’s intentional.

Now, here’s the cheating part. You could have made a roux to start with, and added buttermilk powder and fresh basil or a scoop of pesto concentrate or whatever, but we’re not trying to be fancy, we’re trying to get fed:

Put a packet of this in the pot. Nobody will judge you:

Stir it all up good. If it’s sticking, turn that heat down to the *keep warm* setting.

Taste it again. Add more chicken concentrate if needed. Add about 1tbsp of white wine vinegar and another of lemon juice. I love garlic, and use onion powder when I’m not up to chopping.

It should be thin to the point of almost soupy, like a broccoli cheddar soup. Now gently, tenderly fold your gnocchis in. They’ll help absorb some of that extra liquid.

If you want to add fresh grated parmesan, hit it. We like Pecorino rather than Reggiano (sheep vs. cow) but I’ve done this dish with lots of hard salty cheeses and it always works.

As for the OPTIONAL polenta-crusted chicken:
Put a quarter cup of dry grits, another of flour, and all your favorite seasonings in a bag, and toss the shit out of some chicken pieces it, and shallow fry HOT. It’ll look like this before you turn it. Jonathan made you a gif: