One Pot Chicken and Gnocchi

Ingredients

• 500g chicken breast (about 2 pieces)
• 150g streaky bacon
• 500g gnocchi
• 100g mozzarella
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 can crushed tomatoes, 400g
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Tbsp Italian dried herbs — staple
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar — staple
• 1 Tbsp olive oil — staple
• basil leaves — optional garnish, skip
• (veg side) 1 head cos lettuce, washed and torn
• (veg side) 1 cucumber, sliced
• (veg side) 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
• (veg side) 1 carrot, grated
• (veg side) dressing: 2 Tbsp olive oil + 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice — staple

Method

1. Slice each chicken breast in half horizontally so you have 4 thin pieces. Wrap each piece in a strip of streaky bacon (cook until the bacon is browned and fully cooked — pregnancy rule).
2. Heat the olive oil in a large deep pan over medium heat. Brown the wrapped chicken a few minutes on each side.
3. Add the garlic, then tip in the gnocchi, letting it settle around the chicken.
4. Mix the Italian herbs and brown sugar into the stock, pour it in, then add the crushed tomatoes.
5. Stir carefully around the chicken and simmer 10-12 minutes until the gnocchi is tender and the chicken is cooked through.
6. Tear or slice the mozzarella over the top and cover until melted.
7. Side salad: while the gnocchi simmers, toss the torn cos, cucumber, tomato wedges and grated carrot with the oil and vinegar; season.
8. Serve the pan straight to the table with the salad alongside (and garlic bread if you want it).

Notes

- Meat ≈500g per 4 servings per house rule (125g/serve) — exactly the source quantity, so the stock is back at the source's 1 cup. No adjustment needed. - Calories/protein recalculated from the ingredient list — the earlier figures were inflated. - Slicing the breasts thin matters — thick pieces will not cook in the 10-minute simmer. - Bacon replaces the source's prosciutto: cured deli meat is on the pregnancy ban list (and prosciutto runs ~$110/kg). Brown it well. - Shelf-stable gnocchi in the pasta aisle is fine here; no need to pre-boil it. - Veg/staples sweep: the pan itself was only tomatoes and garlic, so the "green salad" the source waves at is now a real house side salad (cos, cucumber, tomato, grated carrot, oil + vinegar) with its own step — about +50 cal / +2g protein and ~150g veg per serve. Fresh basil dropped to optional garnish; canned tomatoes and fresh garlic lost their "staple" markers.