Gnocchi with Mushrooms & Sage
Jules knows gnocchi. I would say that of the many many times we’ve eaten out together, she would have ordered gnocchi about 72% of the time. OK, I made that up, but the point is that if there was gnocchi on the menu, Jules would order it.
Pressure, I tell you.
It’s been a while since my last two forays into gnocchi, so I had to work at a snail’s pace to make sure I got things right. I simmered the potatoes slowly, checking every five minutes or so and finally they were done. I peeled them and mashed them. No mouli this time. I’m way bitter about my bad mouli purchase. I don’t want to talk about it OK? To the mash I added a sprinkling of nutmeg, an egg and some 00 flour and worked it into a dough ball. I had to keep adding flour until I got the consistency right, then divided it into three, rolled out three sausages on a floured surface, sliced them into 2.5cm gnocchis and popped them into the fridge to rest for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, I heated some oil in a frying pan and added a selection of mushrooms – enoki, shitake and sliced buttons – quickly frying them before adding finely sliced garlic and chilli and a dash of water. I turned the heat right down and left them to simmer while I added the gnocchi to the boiling salted water and waited for it to float to the surface. While all this was going on, I fried some sage leaves in burnt butter, til crispy.
When it was time, I quickly tossed the cooked gnocchi with the mushrooms and some chopped parsley, then sprinkled with parmesan to serve.
I felt like I was being judged on MasterChef! I cowered under Jules’ gaze, waiting for her verdict.
Kidding! Jules just laughed at me then tucked straight in. It might not have been the best gnocchi she’s ever eaten, but I’m OK with that. However, I will just say that the overall meal was kinda dull. It looked good – good colours and textures - but there wasn’t enough flavour. The mushies were really boring. It’s partly my fault coz I should have tasted them along the way and added some salt, but if truth be told (and I can’t believe I’m saying this!), what would have improved it out of sight was a squeeze of lemon juice! Heaven help me, I’m turning into Jamie!
As for the title of this post? Two of my treasured followers once used the expression “pretty vanilla” to describe a meal that was dull. Boring. Nondescript. Unexciting. Vanilla. You geddit? And I promised that when the time was right, I would pay tribute to their hilarious and absolutely perfect expression, by using it in my blog. And last night’s dinner was exactly that: pretty vanilla, man.
Xx
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