Name: Gnocchi with pork and fennel
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 bulb fennel (medium); 1 tbsp olive oil; 1/2 lb ground pork (225g pork mince); 1/4 tsp thyme; 1/2 cup light stock (120ml, eg chicken); 2 tbsp sour cream; 1/2 cup parmesan (10g approx, finely grated); 1 lb gnocchi (450g, or 1 quantity acorn squash gnocchi, approx depending on appetites)

This gnocchi with pork and fennel is a delicious combination of flavors that's hearty and comforting. Easy and quick to put together, it's a perfect any-day meal.

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Gnocchi are one of the most popular meals in our house. If you want a sense of how much my toddler likes them, basically there are two meals you can guarantee he will eat as fast as you: homemade gnocchi and chicken curry.

These days he usually eats as many gnocchi as us, after his requests for more. Despite his love for them, he's not particularly flexible in how he enjoys them, though.

bowl of gnocchi with pork and fennel in bowl from overhead

I manage to get him to switch color between potato spinach gnocchi and acorn squash gnocchi, but always served the same. He likes them with green and red sauce (AKA homemade pesto and roast tomato sauce).

Typically we just have the same, since it's tasty and I don't usually want to make a second meal. Recently, though, I have been trying some different sauces for us, in part to make it more filling since my toddler is eating so many. There are only so many gnocchi I feel like rolling!

This gnocchi with pork and fennel is one such recipe, and the result is both easy and tasty. The flavors are perfect for this time of year and the whole meal is also easy on your budget.

I love fennel as an ingredient as it has a lovely flavor both raw and cooked, the two being quite different meaning it can be used in a range of ways.

When it is cooked so that it starts to caramelize, a lovely sweetness comes out that goes really well with the pork and the softness of the gnocchi. The flavor goes particularly well with a fall-flavored gnocchi like squash, pumpkin or even sweet potato.

Gnocchi are generally cheap but even more so if you make your own (plus they taste better, I think). There's not a huge amount of meat, and it's not an expensive cut anyway, but the flavor really carries through.

Steps to make gnocchi with pork and fennel

All you do is:

Slice then soften the fennel.
Add the pork and brown all over.
Sprinkle over the thyme, add the stock and bring to a simmer.
Reduce heat, add sour cream and parmesan then stir through the cooked gnocchi.

sauce before adding gnocchi for gnocchi with pork and fennel

This gnocchi with pork and fennel is a hearty dish with a tasty range of flavors, despite being so easy to make and not having too many ingredients. It's already become a new favorite of ours (even if I can't get my son out of his rut).

bowl of gnocchi with pork and fennel with skillet with more in behind

Try these other tasty ways with gnocchi:

Creamy bacon sauce with spinach (for pasta/gnocchi)
Butternut squash sauce
Lobster gnocchi
Plus get more comforting dishes in the winter recipes archives.

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5 from 6 votes