Whole Grain Baking: Gnocchi

Most of you (all 3 of you that actually read this) know that I LOVE to bake. For me its a fun creative way to get yummy food to eat. Most of the time my creativity is limited to sweet treats. I think it is just because I enjoy eating those the most. I always enjoy trying new dinner recipes, but I dinners aren't nearly as fun for me to make as a yummy dessert. Well a few nights ago I found a recipe that looked so yummy. The first time I ever had gnocchi was at a restaurant called Ottavios in Provo. The restaurant is no longer there but I will always remember their gnocchi. Here is a brief refresher on gnocchi in case you don't know what it is. I had never mad gnocchi before, but I must say the results turned out pretty good. Let me also mention that there is very little about this recipe that is healthy, but I enjoyed all of the calories I got from it! Here is the yummy recipe just in case you want to take the time to make it.

Gnocchi Dough:

2 cups ricotta cheese

2 eggs

1 cup shredded Parmesan

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat and half white flour)

Mix all the ingredients except flour together. Then, gradually add the flour. You may need less (I actually needed a lot more) depending on how big your eggs are. You want a soft, not too sticky dough. The dough is easier to work with if it's a little chilled, so take about 1/3 of the dough out and put the rest in the fridge until needed.

Roll out dough on a floured surface into a 1/2 inch thick rope. Then cute the rope into 1/2 inch long pieces. Then roll each piece on the back of a fork to give it ridges. That is just to help hold the sauce, so don't worry about perfection. Then line them all up on a pan, keeping them separate. Then place a piece of wax paper over top and begin another layer of gnocchi. Repeat until all of the dough is used. Cover the top with another piece of wax paper and place them in the fridge until ready to be boiled.

Sauce:

1/2 cup butter

2 ounces of prosciutto, chopped

10 torn basil leaves

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 cup cream

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

Beat 1/2 cup of cream until whipped, set aside. Melt butter in a sauce pan, add pine nuts and cook until the nuts begin to brown. (While waiting, begin boiling a pot of water for the gnocchi.) Add 1/2 cup cream (not the whipped 1/2 cup of cream, but the other normal 1/2 cup of the cream) to the butter and pine nuts and bring to a light boil. Cook for one minute, then turn the heat down to low. Add basil and prosciutto. Then fold in the whipped cream and the Parmesan.

Add the gnocchi to the boiling water. Once they float, they are done. (It happens quickly.) Remove and mix with sauce. Serve immediately.

*Notes: I didn't have fresh basil or prosciutto so I used dried basil and bacon. I'm sure the recipe is even better with the fresh basil and prosciutto but I still thought it was fantastic without them. Also remember that the sauce will separate upon reheating so enjoy it the first day when it looks all pretty. I took some for leftovers and it still tasted amazing, but didn't look nearly as good. One last change I made was that I didn't have ricotta cheese so I substituted some cottage cheese that needed to be used.

The only thing I didn't like about this recipe was the time it took to roll the gnocchi. It wasn't horrible but it was a slightly tedious process. In the end you do end up with a lot of the gnocchi. I cooked about half of it and froze the other half so I can make this again soon :). My pictures aren't that amazing but feel free to take a peak at the site I found this recipe on to see her pictures.

Here is my dough (yes I mix/knead all my dough in my kitchen aid mixer and LOVE it!!)