My daughter introduced me to gnocchi in Portland. She is an amazing cook and has introduced me to a lot of different foods. Well, she is a dietician and that helps too. Gnocchi has come to be one of my favs.

The other night when I got home from work and the “What’s for dinner?” question entered my head, as my stomach was growling, I needed to make a quick dish before I smacked myself to death, I remembered I had some gnocchi in my pantry that I’ve been wanting to cook. I originally was thinking of a mushroom marinara for this dish, but at the last minute I changed my mind (definitely a woman’s prerogative haha) because when I tasted the white wine mixed with the mushroom broth and spices it tasted fantastic.

If you want to make this sauce creamy, blend up 1/2 c cashews in about 1/4 c vegetable broth in a high speed blender and add it to the dish at the end. Make sure you blend this up well so you don’t get that gross grainy texture. Another trick is to soak the cashews for 15 min in boiling water, drain it before adding it to the blender with broth. Now to the recipe…..

GNOCCHI WITH ROASTED BROCCOLINI IN WHITE WINE SAUCE

Serves: 4 but if you have big eaters I would double.

Cook Time: 30 min.

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 small red onion

2 c. mushrooms sliced

1 bunch broccolini or regular broccoli (see recipe below)

1 package gnocchi, prepare as directed on package and set aside

1/3 c. dry white wine

1/2 c. vegetable broth (I like to make this with the “Better than Bouillon” brand

1 T. oregano

1 T. parsley

(Or in place of oregano and parsley add 1T. Italian seasoning)

1 tsp. salt

Prepare broth. Add 1/4 c. broth to a medium size Dutch oven or large rim pan and turn heat to medium high. As soon as pan is hot, add garlic and sauté for 2 min continuously stirring until it smells fragrant.

Add onion and sauté about 5 min or until slightly translucent. If you need to add more broth here to keep it from burning, do so. Add mushrooms and sauté these for 10-15 min or until a nice liquid broth forms from the mushrooms, add white wine and keep sautéing for 7 min or so until the alcohol burns off.

Add oregano, parsley and salt. Taste the mixture to see if it is to your liking. From here you can make a the cashew cream as mentioned above or leave it out. I thought it tasted good as is, so I opted not to. Add gnocchi and roasted broccolini. Mix well and taste once again to make sure it is properly salted and spiced. Enjoy.

ROASTED BROCCOLINI

Preheat oven to 425 degrees with baking rack on the top slot of the oven.

Place as much broccolini on a baking sheet pan as you want to serve.

Sprinkle broccolini with vegetable broth and salt and pepper.

When oven is up to temperature, place broccolini in the oven and set timer for 7 min. After 7 min stir broccolini on baking sheet and put back in oven for about 4 min or until it’s cooked to your liking.

Remove from oven and serve or add to cooking dish.