Potato Gnocchi with Pesto Cream Sauce (:

Now that I'm out of my no-cooking rut, I decided that today was going to be a day full of cooking. And for some reason, I felt like gnocchi. Surprisingly simple to make, gnocchi are potato dumplings made with potato, flour, salt & egg yolks. They are light and fluffy (well, if you make them right) and taste delicious either boiled or pan-fried. I paired my gnocchi tonight with a pesto cream sauce that was super simple and quick to make and store-bought, bake-at-home garlic bread. Mmmm!

gnocchi ingredients:

2 lbs russet potatoes

1 1/2 cups AP flour

2 egg yolks, beaten

1/2 cup grated parmigiana reggiano cheese

1 tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

pinch of kosher salt

gnocchi directions:

1. Poke the potatoes with a fork & place in 400 F oven for 45 minutes or until fork tender.

2. Cut open potatoes to help cool. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop potato from skin. 

3. Pass potatoes through a ricer, or mash and fluff with fork in large bowl. 

4. Add about a cup of flour, the beaten egg yolks, a pinch of salt, the grated cheese and parsley. Mix by hand until dough starts to form. Add more flour as needed. The dough should be soft and pliable, but not sticky. (Be careful not to over mix the dough, the gnocchi will come out gummy)

5. Once the dough is smooth, make into a dough ball, cover with plastic, and place in fridge until firm (about 30 min)

6. Take chilled dough out of the fridge. Break off the dough into six pieces and roll into logs about 1 inch thick. Cut one inch pieces of the dough off the log. Press the gnocchi with the back of a fork to create indents. 

7. Boil gnocchi in batches of 20-25 in salted water until they float (2-3 minutes).

8. Once floating, remove gnocchi with slotted spoon. 

9. Serve with pesto cream sauce (recipe below) & enjoy!

pesto cream sauce

This was a very simple sauce. All you have to do is:

1. heat up a half pint of heavy whipping cream and a half cup of milk in a saucepan.

2. melt 2 tbsp butter in another saucepan

3: add 3 cloves minced garlic into the butter & cook for one minute

4. add 1 tbsp flour to the butter and garlic, cook until rue is slightly caramel colored.

5. add hot cream/milk mixture & whisk. bring to boil, then simmer for two minutes. 

6. stir in 1/2 cup grated parmigiana reggiano cheese & one small jar pesto sauce. salt & pepper to taste.

Hope you all find time to make this very easy recipe. You can serve the gnocchi with any sauce, or freeze it and cook it later! Enjoy (: