Ricotta gnocchi with pancetta, sage and pine nuts

I’m baaaaack….

And this time in my new(ish) house in my new(ish) kitchen. Ok I need new kitchen cabinets but look how much lovely natural light I get in here? Perfect for food photography. You will not that River remains an apt observer of the culinary arts.

I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of something fun to make for my first blog post in…geez, a year and a half? Has it been that long? Yikes.

I kept going back to things I’ve already made and wanting to re-do them. It took me quite a bit of convincing to make something new, something I’ve never tried before.

And one thing I’ve never tried before, my friends, is gnocchi.

The first time I ever heard the word gnocchi, I was about 20 and in a restaurant ordering from a prix fixe menu with a vegetarian companion. Nothing on the menu was vegetarian, and the hostess resignedly offered to have the chef whip up a ‘gnocchi with seasonal vegetables”. This sounded like the most pretentious bland thing I had ever heard of, but when the dish arrived I was delighted to see that gnocchi was perfect little pasta dumplings sautéed with yummy looking roast vegetables and parmesan cheese. I dare say I was picking from my companion’s plate more than from my own.

Flash forward 15 years later and I have still never made gnocchi from scratch. I have mastered pizza, pasta and so many other things but have just never tried gnocchi. So, here it is. And it is most decidedly not vegetarian.

I didn’t go with the traditional potato dough because the idea of pasta made of mostly cheese was too irresistible.

I heard you like cheese, so I made some pasta made of cheese with cheese on it, yo.

And ricotta gnocchi is surprisingly easy to make. I just whipped up this home made ricotta from some milk and lemon juice I had in the fridge…

Just kidding, I used store-bought. Forsooth! I almost convinced you though, didn’t I?

I just drained it a little, added it to some more (parmesan) cheese, some flour and an egg and let my mixer do the work. Interesting how it formed a little ball after it had been drained.

The recipe I was following instructed me to mix the dough, then roll it out as was my preference. Panic. I have no preexisting preference! So I just did it like I thought I had seen on tv somewhere or other. And it worked!

I’ve always liked a more rustic shape in my gnocchi. Always since…last weekend.

Ahh, it nice to have the old battle station up and running again.

So anyway, roll, cut and quickly boil the gnocchi until they float to the top…

Sautee with some yummy delicious pancetta, sage and pine nuts.

Add MORE CHEESE.

And baby, you got yourself a meal.

Here’s the recipe!

Ricotta gnocchi with pancetta, sage and pine nuts