Gno Joking
While sitting in restaurants looking over menus, Paul and I converse about the many different options. We point out dishes to each other that we think they would enjoy and we discuss items that neither of us has ever tried. And then the server comes to take our order. And the same thing happens practically every time. I do one of two things:
- If I haven’t tried a variety of items on the menu, I test the waters and order something new.
- If I’ve already tried many of the items on the menu, I order whatever sounds best at that moment in time.
And Paul also does one of two things:
- He orders the exact same meal every time, no variation.
- He can’t choose between two dishes (usually having tried both before), so he tells the server to choose for him.
I like to explore things I haven’t tried (within reason…after all, there are somethings that I truly think are really not meant to be eaten). I rarely end up highly disappointed. I know what I like and order within those parameters.
Paul, however, wants to be absolutely certain that he likes what he orders. So he orders the same thing every time and is also rarely disappointed.
But how boring!
This past weekend we had a similar experience, but not at a restaurant. It was at my sister’s. Anna and I try to get our families together monthly, enjoying each other’s company and making some good food. Anna is my co-conspirator in the kitchen. She likes to cook (not quite as much as I do, I fear), and she likes to try new things.
So once we found a mutually acceptable day, Anna and I needed to choose the menu. Neither of us wanted to get too wacky with things this month, but we definitely wanted something new. Something that would expand our repertoire and our palettes. After throwing around a couple of ideas, we finally both realized that neither of us had ever made, or even eaten, gnocchi.
Thus a dinner was born.
Paul was disappointed. He’d been hoping for something more familiar. Something safer.
But safe isn’t fun.
And we wanted fun.
So, not knowing what was ahead of us, Anna and I dived into the world of gnocchi.
We used this recipe from Recipezaar. The dough was pretty easy to make, and in case you’re wondering, if you forget to add the clarified butter when the recipe says to, you can easily go back and mix it in at the end. We meant to do it that way, to make sure that YOU have the best information possible. Really…did it all for you.
Once the dough was made, Anna and I disagreed on how to shape the gnocchi. On T.V. I’ve seen people use forks to make pretty little ridges in the pasta. Anna though they should be more like shells. So we each did our own. Mine are on the left, Anna’s are on the right.
They both worked about the same in the long run, though we should have made them smaller. They were too doughy. The delicious sauce we made was also from Recipezaar. I may never make gnocchi again, but I will absolutely make this flavorful, creamy, spicy sauce again. We added spicy Italian sausage to it, but really, it wasn’t necessary. It was amazing and will be wonderful with fettuccini or penne. Or just sopped up with a couple pieces of bread. Or eaten with a spoon.
March 18, 2009 11:58 am 
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