a peek inside the fishbowl

1 | Judy

October 11th, 2012 at 9:21 am

We also love gnocchi but boil it and then toss it with some cooked spinach and parmesean! Great with sausages!

2 | Marla Good

October 11th, 2012 at 9:34 am

I HAVE made my own gnocchi - and I made it with squash. It was a recipe similar to this: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Butternut-Squash-Gnocchi-with-Sage-Brown-Butter-361270

(and in poking around for that, BOY did this one look good: http://guiltykitchen.com/2009/09/19/butternut-squash-gnocchi/)

3 | Giulia

October 11th, 2012 at 9:47 am

We boil our gnocchi and serve them either with canned garlic tomatoes and generous amount of Parmesan or with a Gorgonzola sauce and spinach. We always have them as our main meal because I find them quite heavy.
And yes, we’ve made our own.

4 | Pamela

October 11th, 2012 at 9:54 am

I love the term “mouse pillows”….. It made me think about the cute terms that my girls had for some foods..thank you for the smile and the recipe.

5 | Javamom

October 11th, 2012 at 9:58 am

We too have made squash gnocchi, or mixed with other starches, or with spinach and/or swiss chard. The possibilities are limitless!

Sauces too can dress up or down the gnocchi every which way. I sometimes toss them with rappini (broccoli rabe) which I steam lightly in olive oil, garlic, chopped onion and a squeeze of lemon. Delish!

Kids like it like you make it with butter (but they add parm cheese instead of sugar).

And by the way, that steak with the salad, that’s a regular Sat night meal for us. Big huge salad full of colours and a steak, with a big glass of red wine…yum. Never missed the starch there…:)

6 | torontomom

October 11th, 2012 at 12:39 pm

We love gnocchi at our house- pan frying them is the way to go.

I agree with you on the starch front. It is a tough habit to break. One option that works for us is mashed cauliflower. Steam, cauliflower until nice and tender, add a bit of stock, or warmed milk, olive oil, salt and pepper and parmesan cheese and whiz up until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes. You can add whatever seasonings you like or that would complement the main event.

Delicious and nutritious!

7 | pat cook

October 11th, 2012 at 3:58 pm

Yes gnocchi made of squash (or pumpkin) is delicious and a nice buttery colour! Thanks for the reminder folks.

8 | Paula

October 12th, 2012 at 7:56 am

Coming from an Italian family, gnocchi has always been a favourite. I remember making it from scratch with my Nonna, and now my kids ask to have gnocchi not only because they love to eat it, but they love helping make it too. Give them a piece of dough and tell them to roll away! Ricotta gnocchi is my fave though - no potatoes - just ricotta, parmesan, flour and salt with a simple tomato basil sauce!

9 | Natalie

October 12th, 2012 at 6:46 pm

I make my side of gnocchi in a very similar manner as you, only I add a good glug of balsamic vinegar and sometimes sauté some garlic in the butter before I throw the gnocchi in the pan. Yum!

10 | valerie

October 16th, 2012 at 2:06 pm

We were at friends’ for supper recently and they served steak and bean salad. No starch, not even bread. My poor kids ate almost nothing except the raw carrots the hostess dug out of the fridge for them, LOL. Unfortunately, we’re not big salad people - spinach or caesar are pretty much it. And we don’t eat a lot of beef that’s not ground.

I agree that we don’t need starch at every meal, but I found it quite funny (humourous as well as strange) that it never even occurred to my friend that something was missing. :)

11 | Jen Hughes

October 16th, 2012 at 8:36 pm

It never occured to me that gnocchi could be prepared in any way except boiling. Your method sounds yummy - and kid-friendly. I’ll definitely try it! And we might have to adopt your term for it too. Very cute.

In an effort to get my pickiest to try quinoa a couple of years ago, we started calling it “moon rice.” He was very into space and aliens at the time. It worked!