Gnocchi

I first fell in love with gnocchi at al Vento restaurant in South Minneapolis. The first time Luke and I went there (with Jennie and Adam) was New Year's Eve in 2005. I had gnocchi with their mother sauce.....and I fell in love. I have always loved all things potato....but gnocchi is heaven.

I had a delicious baked gnocchi in marinara last year in Rome:

I don't remember the name of the restaurant...but it was in Piazza Navona. Unfortunately, at the end of the trip I had a really bad gnocchi somewhere near the Trevi fountain...which steered me away from gnocchi for nearly a year.

A few weeks ago, I was ready to try it again, I found this recipe in Everyday Pasta by Giada de Laurentiis, it's phenomenal. I made half the recipe, and it was still 4 fairly good sized portions.

Baked gnocchi 2 (17-ounce) packages potato gnocchi (use the vacuum-packed type - not the dry boxed kind, or make GF gnocchi using the recipe at celiac.com) 3 cups heavy cream 1 cup gluten-free chicken broth 1/4 cup rice flour 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. pepper 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 12 ounces baby spinach 3 ounces fresh goat cheese (I actually used Havarti instead..yum) 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the gnocchi in a lightly greased baking dish, set aside. In a saucepan, whisk together the cream, chicken broth and flour over medium heat. Continue whisking until the sauce is simmering and thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir. Add the spinach and toss to coat in the cream. Pour the cream and spinach mixture evenly over the gnocchi. Crumble the goat cheese over the spinach. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top. Bake until the top is golden, about 30 minutes.