MoFo continues with Gnocchi!

Continuing along with my Harvest theme, today I'd like to write about Gnocchi today. 

Gnocchi (pronounced knee-O-key), is kinda like a potato dumpling, made simply from cooked potato, flour, and salt. Some folks use egg in them, but naturally, I leave out that ingredient. I once read an article on how true Italian Gnocchi doesn't contain egg, they just need to be properly prepared. This made me feel better, that I was doing it in a traditional fashion like so many Italian grandmothers have been for ages. :)

My sister and I spent an afternoon a couple weeks ago digging out Kennebecs and Yukon Golds from her garden, with the help of Duncan too of course.... :)

There was quite the yield and we were joking how there was no GMO potatoes there! Every single one was different and had its' own character. Lots of funky little guys came outta the ground, it was like Christmas. We didn't know what we were gonna find!

As we were diggin em up, we were chatting about what we could make with this mountain of fresh tators. Shepherds Pie, mashed potatoes, baked wedges, creamy potato soup.... and then I thought of Gnocchi. Pasta and potatoes combined into one? Drool! First time I ever had Gnocchi was on my first trip to France (yes, France, not Italy oddly) in high school with French Club. I went to lunch with 2 of my travel mates and ordered Gnocchi aux quatre fromages. Yes, pre-vegan days for sure! I received a giant bowl of Gnocchi, smothered in a 4 cheese sauce. It was to die for! Ever since then I've been a fan, and maybe once a year I'll set aside a day to slave away at the delicious lil suckers.

Seeing as its fall, I wanted to pair it with a succulent savory sauce, sort of reminiscent of holiday flavors. I went with a sage-pecan pesto.

 I wouldn't say I have the Gnocchi recipe perfected in anyway, so I'm not including it. I added a LOT of flour as I went along, and was kneading it in until the very end shaping the little balls. The end result was incredibly tasty and had the perfect texture.

Started with boiling the potatoes and peeling them after they were cooked, then roughly mashing them up with a fork. Set aside to cool and dry out a little bit.

The potatoes, flour and salt combined into a dough.

Dividing up the dough to begin shaping it into little gnocchilettes!

Once they were all finished, they were boiled for a few minutes until floating, and then finished in the cast iron skillet to be seared and lightly crisped. They were then tossed with the sage-pecan pesto, and served with roasted butternut squash.... also from the garden :) Buon Appetito!