Dillish

Dill Flavored Gnocchi With Bagna Cauda Sauce

Gnocchi recipe was found in Harumi Kurihara’s ‘Summer’ 2010 seasonal issue that I borrowed from a friend. This homey Italian dish hit my tender spot yet was not a home run with my husband. The ball went too far to the right, I guess.

This is the photo from her book.

I actually threw this recipe past him twice to make sure he did not care for it. First pitch  I thought he was sick or something therefore he couldn’t taste…second time around he just walked. Wait a sec, can you just bunt it?

I improvised her recipe just a little bit to create a gluten free version. There was a slight texture change but not too shabby in my opinion. Although gnocchi taste very bland, salty bagna cauda sauce and parmesan cheese made a great team. I used my blue plate to mimic the style in the book, awesome, ya?

Ingredients and Nippon nin style Instruction for 4-6 servings Print recipe here

For Bagna Cauda Sauce/ バーニャカウダソース

• 2 cloves of garlic finely minced
• 6 fillet of anchovy. I used oil packed, finely minced and pounded
• Olive oil 1 Tablespoon
• Heavy cream 1 cup Note: substitute whole milk if you prefer
• Cornstarch 1 teaspoon
• Water 1 teaspoon
• Salt and pepper to taste 

For Gnocchi

• 2 medium sized potato about 250g. Peeled and quartered
• Butter 3 Tablespoons
• Corn starch 100g Note: her original recipe calls for 50g of bread flour and 50g of low protein flour(薄力粉)
• Salt
• Fresh dill minced 1-2 Tablespoons
• Parmesan cheese for garnish

Make Bagna Cauda Sauce

1. Heat oil in a non- stick frying pan at low heat. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant without burning it.
   
2. Add anchovy and sauté for 1 minute or so.
3. Add cream and cook until it starts boiling.
4. Mix corn starch and water in a small bowl then pour in the pan and sauté till the liquid gets thick. Turn off the heat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Make Gnocchi

1. Put peeled and quartered potato in the bowl and cover with water. Soak for 2-3 minutes.
2. Line with paper towel in a large microwave proof bowl. Put well drained potato then loosely cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 3-4 minutes or until soft
   .
3. Remove paper towel, mash potato while it’s hot. Add butter and mash until smooth.
   
4. Add cornstarch or flours. Mix well.
5. Add dill. Knead with your hands if necessary to make the potato mixture come together.
6. Divide the dough in half and make two snakes about 1 inch in diameter. Slice in about 1/2 inch pieces. Press surface gently with fork to make lattice design.
   
7. Boil plenty of water in a large pot. Drop the gnocchi in. When the gnocchi floats to the top, scoop up with slotted spoon.
8. Serve with hot bagna cauda sauce. Shave some cheese on top.

 

Experimenting by deep frying Gnocchi – This made them taste like potato buds though I like the crunchiness, a great appetizer. I like this with ketchup.

By the way – It’s hard to fathom that Clayton Kershaw got a $215 million contract from the Dodgers. You know what that means?  It’s over 10,000 dollars each time he pitches at a game! Amazing deal isn’t it?

I had a lunch with my girl friend on Friday then my husband and I dined at Maki Restaurant last Saturday with friend couple. How blessed we are to have a nice meal with great company. Their Spicy Tuna Salad is my favorite at Maki.

I am just surprised that Tuesday came so fast…I’m not good with time management…phew!  I hope you have a great rest of the week!