You guys. . .I cheated. The recipe that I’m going to be posting here has almost nothing to do with the actual recipe presented in the cookbook.
I got this week’s cookbook a couple weeks ago, and I was really excited about it. Italian Intermezzo (Menus and Music) came from my favorite used bookstore, and was really cool because it comes with a CD of Italian music. Apparently, this is a whole series of cookbooks that come with corresponding CDs. When I put the CD in the player, Dennis was skeptical, but then it turned out to be really nice background music while I cooked. A couple of the songs I recognized from. . .Bugs Bunny cartoons, but for the most part, they sounded like you were floating down the river on a gondola. I demonstrated my gondola rowing skills while listening to the music, and I have to say, I’m very sorry you all missed that. (You’re probably not.)
The recipe in the book gives you the ingredients and instructions on how to make your own gnocchi, which is basically a type of dumpling. This cookbooks has a lot of really complicated recipes with a lot of really complicated ingredients, so I was looking for something that I could do during the week (or on a Sunday evening in this case). I’d remembered seeing gnocchi at Trader Joe’s, so I went ahead and bought it pre-made. I realize that this is massively cheating, but what can you do?
The sauce I tossed the gnocchi with was amazing, this amazingly rich blend of cream and cheese. . .but that’s it. Literally, those are the ingredients I used to make the sauce. So skimpy were my ingredients, I forgot to take a picture of them until after I’d thrown the gnocchi in the water. This recipe was. . .let’s just say inspired by the cookbook rather than being adapted from it. (In other words, I cheated like it was my job.)
It looked weird on a plate by itself, so the picture you’ll see is of the gnocchi and the Caesar Salad I made a few weeks back. The combination was delicious, and so flavorful, and one of these days, I’m going to have to make my own gnocchi and see if it comes out as well.
Truffled Fonduta Sauce (Or. . .Gnocchi and
Cheese Sauce)
Inspired by Italian Intermezzo (Menus and Music)
Serves: 2 or 3
Ingredients:
1 package pre-made gnocchi (I know, I KNOW)
1 cup cream
8 oz. shredded cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar)
Prepare the gnocchi and stop judging me.
Heat the cream over medium heat and mix in cheese, stirring constantly until cheese melts.
Toss sauce with prepared gnocchi. Make a salad. Eat all that and be amazed by how something so simple can be so ridiculously delicious.