St. Louis and Gnocchi

I flew to St. Louis this week to help my friends, Kelly and Jon furnish and decorate their new house. It was a marathon week of shopping and installation,and of course eating. By the end of the week we had made a pretty good dent in making the house beautiful, but there is still a bit to go. One of the eating highlights of the week was dinner on Friday night on "The Hill." For those that don't know, The Hill is a historic italian neighborhood in the St. Louis area. It's full of little brick bungalows and row houses, peppered with little neighborhood italian restaurants, delis and bakeries, where you can find some of the best italian food ever. We dined outside on a patio, with lights strung from one end of the other, as well as twinkling in the trees. The weather was perfect. The bartender educated us on their huge selection of infused vodkas. There were these colorful jars of vodkas lining the back of the bar, and so we all tried a different type. I chose lime infused vodka with club soda. Very good. I'm sure I will try my hand at infusing some vodkas. I've all ready thought about a cucumber mint vodka. I'll let you know how that turns out. I had a delicious iceberg wedge with crispy pancetta, tomatoes, blue cheese and a sweet and spicy vinagrette, followed by a big bowl of rigatoni and sausage. We ended the evening with some decaf and Kahlua. What a perfect night. I flew back to Denver on Saturday night, leaving the 80 degree weather in Missouri to return to drizzle and 39 degrees. I gave me a great excuse to do some italian cooking of my own this weekend. I got up early this morning and made some potato gnocchi. Tonights dinner was the gnocchi tossed in a gorgonzola mushroom sauce. It turned out so delicious I had to share the recipe.

POTATO GNOCCHI

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Cook whole unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan until potatoes are very tender; about 25 minutes. Drain. When they are cool enough to handle, peel them, cut into quarters and mash in a large bowl. ( I used the KitchenAid). Sprinkle the potatoes with the flour, and add the eggs. Sprinkle with the 2 1/2 teaspoons salt and the pepper. Stir mixture well to combine. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; gently knead until it is soft and smooth. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 1 inch pieces. Sprinkle a large baking sheet with flour. Roll one side of the gnocchi against the tines of a fork (this helps your sauce stick to the gnocchi). Set aside on the floured baking sheet until ready to cook.

GORGONZOLA-MUSHROOM SAUCE

4 oz. pancetta, diced

12 oz. assorted mushrooms (cremini, chanterelle, portobello, shitake)

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream

4 oz. gorgonzola cheese

salt to taste

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of cayenne pepper

freshly ground pepper

olive oil, as needed

In a large skillet, cook pancetta until crispy. Remove from pan to a paper towel lined plate. Add mushrooms to skillet (add the olive oil here if you need it) and cook until the mushrooms have released their liquid. Remove the mushrooms from pan and add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Scrape all the bits from the bottom and then add the chicken stock and heavy cream. Let it come to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer until the sauce has thickened a bit. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Add the nutmeg, cayenne, salt and pepper and simmer for 5 more minutes. Lower heat and add the pancetta and mushrooms; stir until combined. Keep warm until gnocchi is cooked and ready to add.

To cook the gnocchi, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. Add half the gnocchi, when they float to the top, continue to cook until tender, about 30 more seconds. Transfer gnocchi to a greased baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining gnocchi. After all the gnocchi is cooked, add to the sauce and toss well. Return to low heat to heat through, but watch that it doesn't over cook. It is very rich, and very delicious.