Monday, March 3, 2008

Gnocchi? Gno thanky!

To explain this latest bit of our adventure, I have to go back and explain that a few weeks ago, we bought a lovely little cookbook at the flea market. It is called I Sapori di Lazio, "The Flavors of Lazio," and is filled with beautiful, simple, yet delicious recipes for foods typical to the region in which Rome is found. I have been having a very nice time studying Italian by deciphering the recipes and have learned many useful words and phrases like "chop", "boil" and "golden brown." We have also had many tasty dinners as a result -- lovely typical pasta dishes, polenta, and other delights.



Thomas made some spinach ricotta croquettes the other night that were quite delicious, and we had some leftover ricotta. I decided to look beyond our trusty little book and went to the internet to try and find a recipe to creatively use up our ricotta. I found a recipe for ricotta gnocchi and was intrigued. As you may know, gnocchi are ordinarily made of potato, and a well made gnocchi is a melt-in-your-mouth thing of beauty.



So I thought I would try a ricotta gnocchi. What could go wrong in combining two great tastes, right? Well, you probably see where I'm going with this. I spent an hour and a half making my homemade little gnocchi and waited for the moment when I could pull them triumphant from the boiling water. Sadly, my lovely little gnocchi turned to slime in the water and were pulled out looking like something that had been regurgitated from the belly of some primal beast. Most disgusting.





The story has a happy ending, though. Earlier that day, I had been in a bookstore paging through a book about eating in Rome that recommended a little pizza shop right near us. When the gnocchi failed, we went out and tried the pizzeria, and it was great. So now we have a favorite local pizza joint, and all the Bauerweeneys (plus Bethany) continue to be well fed.

So the story also has a moral -- two morals, actually:

-- Beware of what you find on the internet.
and
-- God never closes a door without opening a pizza shop.

Maureen

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Having computer problem, hope this epistle gets there. Peanut maybe you should stick to Mac & cheese. I assume you got the message about Denis joining the birthday group. Got e-mails from Peanut & Sophie. Thanks much Love to 1 & all, Papa/Dad

Anonymous said...

Maureen!!

Good to see you are adventerous in the kitchen!! As an Irish person, we have MANY recipes for left over potatoes, for God's sake!! Try them!!

Baltimore is gettng milder and this hour going forward is KILLING me!! getting dark at only 7.20: bizarre!!

chao!