Poutine is one of those iconic Canadian dishes.  Some go kilometres to find good poutine.  When the hot gravy melts the cheese, and the fries are crispy—so good!  Here in Edmonton, there are a couple of places to get decent poutine.  But what do you do when you have leftover mashed potatoes or maybe extra potatoes?

When I was writing my leftovers article a few weeks back, I was inspired to make up a new dish. Well, a new to me dish.  In this recipe, I fused Italian Gnocchi and Canadian Poutine.  It’s not the deep-fried crispy fries, but it’s still so good! As is, it’s a very basic dish, but you could spruce it up a bit, say by adding some smoked brisket, Italian sausage, or even some leftover ham or turkey.

Using up leftovers is hard, but I hope that I can help you get inspired to try some new things with them!  Enjoy!

Gnocchi Poutine

Ingredients:

Gnocchi:
4 large russet potatoes – peeled and diced
1 egg
1 – 2 cups flour

Gravy:
1L chicken or turkey stock
125g butter
125g flour

Poutine:
1-2 cups shredded or diced Mozza

Directions:

Gravy:

• Grab a medium-sized pot and heat it over high heat
• Add butter and heat until it starts to foam
• Add flour and stir until it forms a thick paste.
• Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly
• Add the stock and stir continuously to incorporate the roux
• Add salt and pepper until you are happy with the taste.
• Hold it until the gnocchi is done.

Gnocchi:

• Peel the potatoes and dice them
• Put the potatoes in a pot and cover with water
• Bring to a boil over high heat
• Boil until the potatoes fall apart easily
• Strain them to remove the water
• Put the potatoes in the bowl of a stand mixer (or a mixing bowl)
• Turn the mixer to 3, using the paddle attachment, and whip them to break them up
• Keep paddling for 2 minutes to cool the potatoes
• Turn off the heat and scrape down the sides
• Turn the mixer onto stir or its lowest setting and add your egg
• While it is mixing, start adding your flour, 1 cup at a time. You might need more than 2 cups
• Once the potatoes come together like a dough, stop the mixer
• If it is still sticky, add more flour
• Remove the mix to a floured surface and knead for one to two minutes
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil while you complete the next portion
• Cut the dough into four sections
• Roll each section out into a ½ inch rope
• Cut each rope into 1 – 1.5-inch pieces
• Heat a frying pan over medium-high with some oil.
• Once the pot of water is boiled, start adding the pieces
• Once they start to float on the top, remove them to the frying pan, being careful as you’re going to get some splatter.
• Keep adding oil and gnocchi until you have boiled and fried all of it

Poutine:

• Shred the cheese
• Portion your gnocchi onto separate plates
• Add the cheese
• Top with the gravy
• Enjoy

[Who knew that we’d become a regular recipe magazine with a new one every week?  But students have to eat, too, right?  So it only makes sense why it happened, and why this one, from our November 13^th issue, was nominated for the Best of 2020.  If leftovers leading to cheese and gravy and pasta isn’t a student meal, I don’t know what is.]