gnocchi with brown butter

tonight our friends (Rich, Beth, Beth's mom, and kids) came over and made the most delicious meal. We made gnocchi together--recipe at the bottom--and then we made this amazing sauce to coat it. All you do is melt a stick of butter, add some fresh sage and fresh squeezed lemon juice from half of a lemon. (We doubled the recipe since we had a lot of gnocchi.) You cook the butter until it is brown. Dump cooked gnocchi into the "sauce" and gently toss together. Serve and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Mark made some awesome asparagus to go with it--I'll have to have him post the recipe sometime. He basically tossed the asparagus with lots of olive oil, lemon juice, S&P, and Parmesan and then roasted them on a cookie sheet in the oven at 400 (I think--I was rolling, cutting, and forking gnocchi while he was making this) for 15-20 minutes. Once again, I find myself loving a food that I've never really enjoyed that much.

If you refer to yourself as a picky eater, I really encourage you to go out and start trying some new foods and/or previously disliked foods because things change. Life is so much better when you are able to enjoy more good things. The same thing goes for offering food to your "picky" kids. Just because they don't like something one day doesn't mean they won't change their mind. The key is to keep an open invitation to trying any foods. When I asked Noah if he would like some asparagus (he often doesn't like "green" things) he happily said, "sure!" And then he ate every bite!


(the kids got bolognese sauce so the adults could have all the good stuff!)


In case you're wondering, Rich is not wearing a women's top. He is wearing a baby carrier with a baby inside of course. :)

Gnocchi:

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 lbs  russet potatoes
1/4 cup cream
1 egg
nutmeg
2 cups flour

DIRECTIONS:
1. cook the potatoes (bake in oven/microwave or boil.  whichever you prefer).  Boil a big pot of water to cook the gnocchi.
2. peel potatoes and mash.  (Beth insists on using a potato ricer, so if you have one, use it)
3. beat cream and egg together.  Season liberally with nutmeg.  Mix in with potatoes.
4. work the flour in and knead the mixture. (you may need to add a little more cream/flour to get the right consistency.  It shouldn't be sticky or dry)
5.  on a floured surface, roll dough into a snake about quarter-sized diameter.  You will probably have to keep cutting the snakes in half to make it easier to roll.
6.  Cut snakes into 1-inch long pieces.  If you feel like being fancy and making a lot of extra work, you can press each piece with a fork.  It's not necessary, but Beth likes to do it :) Did I mention that Beth is half Italian?
TIP: as you are making the gnocchi, put the 1-inch pieces onto a floured cookie sheet only one layer deep so that they don't stick together.
7.  Drop gnocchi into boiling water.  They take only a couple minutes to cook.  When they float to the top, they are done.  Use a slotted spoon/strainer/slotted ladle/etc to scoop gnocchi out of the water.  repeat until all the gnocchi is cooked.  Toss with sauce and you're ready to eat!

WARNING: do not attempt to make the gnocchi ahead of time and plop them in a giant bowl and leave them in the fridge.  It will be a disaster.  I know from experience.  If you want to make them ahead, you need to spread them out on a cookie sheet (1 LAYER!) and freeze them.  Once frozen, they can be put in a bag for storage.  I have never tried this but I've heard it works.