Today I made my 2nd Blue Apron dinner (see here for the first Blue Apron dinner).   Fresh Gnocchi and Maitake Mushrooms.  I have eaten Gnocchi all my life and always had it with a marinara sauce being the nice Italian girl that I am.  So Blue Apron’s recipe was missing the red sauce  – what?  If you are not familiar with Gnocchi, they are little potato dumplings that end up looking and somewhat tasting like pasta – only they are potatoes and not pasta.  I have only once in my life seen a movie showing people preparing Gnocchi and that was in the movie Godfather III.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t Sophia Coppola and Andy Garcia (Mary and Vincent) make it look very sexy ?  When I make gnocchi it doesn’t look anything like that, especially if I am cooking in my bathrobe!   But I digress.

Blue Apron sent me all my ingredients already selected and packaged neatly in little baggies and containers.  All I had to do was chop mushrooms and the shallot.  And about these Maitake mushrooms – I had never heard nor seen them before and they look a little weird – kind of like a brown flower – but bottom-line they are quite tasty.  I started with boiling the water for the Gnocchi and then started chopping and sautéing and by  the time the Gnocchi had started to float to the top of the boiling water  (that’s when  they are ready), the mushrooms and corn combo were done.  Add the gnocchi to the mushrooms and a little pasta water and I had finished dinner.  I took a couple of photos while I was making everything and then when I went to take the photo adding the gnocchi to the pan, my iPhone said it was full and no more pictures.   What timing – darn!  So the gnocchi stayed in the pot about an extra minute (it only cooks about 3 minutes, so an extra minute means a lot).  When I went to take the final photo and I compared it to the photo that Blue Apron provided I could see THEIR gnocchi still had clearly defined lines, while mine was a little less distinctive. BUT…it tasted great and was filling.  And only 435 calories – Yay!

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

5 ounce Maitake mushrooms

1 bunch thyme

1 ear of corn

1 shallot

2 Tbls butter

2 tsp olive oil

10 ounces fresh gnocchi

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

 

METHOD:

1. Heat a large pot of salted water till boiling.  Cut the mushrooms into bite sized pieces, chop the shallot, and pick the thyme leaves off the stems, then chop them.  Discard the husk and silk from ear of corn and cut the kernels off the cob.

2. In a non-stick pan add 2 tsp olive oil on medium high heat and add the mushrooms and cook for about 4 minutes until browned and softened.

3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter.  Cook until the butter begins to foam and continue to cook for 2 minutes till brown and slightly nutty.  Add the shallot and cook about another minute until fragrant.

4. Add the corn and thyme and cook for 3-4 minutes until soft.

5. While the corn cooks, add the gnocchi to the boiling water  and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the gnocchi floats to the top of the pot.

6. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water and transfer the gnocchi with a slotted spoon or strainer to the pan with the corn and brown butter.

7. Reserve 1 Tbl of the parmesan cheese and adding remaining to the pan.  Then add  1/4 cup of the water and stir until well combined – use the remaining 1/4 cup of water as needed to get the desired consistency you want (I used a little more than 1/4 cup).  Divide the gnocchi between two plates and garnish with remaining parmesan cheese.

I think I am getting spoiled with these delivery services. Next post will be Plated food delivery service.

 

Serves 2  – Calories per serving: 435