vorace.: Flavorful Gnocchi and Veggie Ragout

Usually when a restaurant meal inspires me to recreate a dish at home, it's because the meal was so fantastic, so interesting, so out of this world, that I need to find a way to make it mine so I have it at my fingertips any time, day or night. Not really the case with this recipe...

On a recent date night with my love in Old Town Alexandria, I was super excited to try a particular restaurant I had been perusing online for over a year. (Talk about a build up!) I made reservations, I made us leave an engagement party early so that we could make it in time, and I wore my hottest early summer outfit. (More build up...) I won't go into all the ugly details (that's what Yelp is for!), but let's just say, the experience was not all I had built it up to be (isn't that always the case?!). The food was abysmal. There was better food at the engagement party we left! (Catered by my friend & former neighbor, Chef Scott!) I ordered a half portion of "seared potato gnocchi with local mushroom ragout, wilted Shenandoah Swiss chard, oven-dried tomatoes, shaved ricotta salata." Sounds incredible, doesn't it?! That's what I thought when I ordered it. Tasting it, however, was a different story.

It was a classic example of what I like to call the Restaurant Attempt at Vegetarian Cuisine. I have experienced this phenomenon too many times to count. I have come to realize that some chefs think if you take meat protein out of the equation, there is nothing left to work with. Flavor becomes non-existent, non-important, and the ingredients end up being a confusing hot mess. The hallmark characteristics of these dishes are: some type of pasta/starch, a weird sauce, and random odd-ball vegetables. Pea shoots? Sure! Yardlong? Why not?! Vegetarians must love weird stuff like that! Who cares if it makes an actual tasty, satisfying meal? I appreciate the experimental spirit, but just because it sounds like a good idea, doesn't mean it will taste good. Perhaps these chefs should prepare a plate of their vegetarian creations, take one bite, and determine if even they want to continue eating the rest of the dish.

OK... rant over. The point of all that was to say that the dish I had at this particular restaurant was a sorry excuse for a vegetarian dish, or just restaurant food period. (The rest of their food was awful as well, so I don't think it was a vegetarian specific issue.) I couldn't help but think to myself that I could've made that dish at home, using the same ingredients, and make it flavorful, satisfying, and tasty. A marked improvement over the muddled flavors, tasteless cheese, and four (yes FOUR) gnocchi I got at this restaurant. As we signed our very expensive tab, I vowed to myself I would do just that - recreate this dish at home and make it something people would happily eat - and blog it!

I switched up the concept from the original a little, to make it my own, and to make it in a way I thought would develop the best taste considering the base of ingredients I had to work with. I chose to use the chard to make a pesto that would coat the gnocchi. I picked my own mix of mushrooms, added caramelized onion to the ragout, and changed out the ricotta salata for a more pleasing cheese. It turned out to be one of those meals that's so tasty, you can't wait to get home to eat the leftovers for dinner the following day! (I know this from experience...) At the restaurant, I ended up not even being able to finish my small plate, but this recipe is guaranteed to make you want to lick clean your dish!

I like to take care of the meat eaters out there, so while this dish is meant to be a vegetarian rock star!, I think chorizo would be a great addition here. Just cook it up following package instructions and stir it in with the meat eater's portion of the ragout before piling on the gnocchi.

Now let's get cookin' good lookin'!

Better Gnocchi & Veggie Ragout

Servings: 4

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

Tomato & Mushroom Ragout

1 large carton of whole grape tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) + 1 teaspoon EVOO for frying the sage leaves

1/8 cup red wine (I used Syrah) + an extra teaspoon when cooking mushrooms

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)

1/2 teaspoon kosher or grey salt

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 pinch dried red pepper flakes

1 medium sweet onion, sliced thin

5 large shitake mushrooms, de-stemmed

1 carton of sliced cremini or button mushrooms

1 17 oz package dry gnocchi

4 sage leaves

Pecorino romano cheese for shaving over finished dish (if you can't find PR cheese, substitute Parmesan)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium sized baking dish, add your washed grape tomatoes. Grate the clove of garlic over the tomatoes and stir to mix the pieces in throughout the tomatoes.

Next, pour the wine and 1/8 cup of the EVOO over the tomatoes/garlic. Stir to coat.

Sprinkle the turmeric, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon FCBP, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt over the tomatoes.

Stir to distribute the spices over the tomatoes.

Place the tomatoes in the oven to cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally (every ten minutes at least).

While the tomatoes are cooking, caramelize the onions.

Start by placing a large skillet on the stove over medium-low heat. Pour in 1/8 cup EVOO. Add your sliced onions to the pan and stir to coat the onions in the oil.

Allow the onions to cook and soften, stirring often...

[this is how they should look at five minutes]

At the five minute mark, add a pinch of salt and stir.

After ten minutes, they should be caramelized and light brown in color:

Remove the onions from the pan after cooking for ten minutes and set aside.

In the same pain you cooked the onions, add 1/8 cup EVOO.

Add your mushroom mixture to the pan. Stir to coat the mushrooms in the oil, then add the remaining 1/8 cup of EVOO as well as 1/4 teaspoon FCBP and stir again.

When the mushrooms have been cooking for five minutes, add the splash of wine and stir.

Allow the mushrooms to cook for ten minutes total, stirring often.

After ten minutes, remove the mushrooms from the heat and set aside.

By this time, your tomatoes should be about done cooking. They will be soft and juicy, like this:

Remove them from the oven and set aside while you prepare the pesto.

Before starting the pesto, set a large pot 3/4 full with water to the stove over high heat. It should heat up and come to a boil by the time your pesto is finished. When it begins to boil, add the gnocchi and allow them to cook as indicated on the package instructions - usually no longer than four minutes. You can tell when they're done because they will float to the surface. Place a strainer in the sink and when the gnocchi are finished cooking, dump them in to the strainer to drain. Leave them there until you are ready to mix them with the pesto.

Swiss Chard Pesto

1/4 cup pinoli (pine nuts)

1 cup Swiss chard, leaves removed from stems

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup EVOO

1/4 teaspoon FCBP

1 pinch grey salt

Place a small skillet on the stove over medium-low heat. Add the pinoli.

Cook the pinoli for no longer than five minutes, stirring often - you do not want these little guys to burn!

Remove the nuts from the pan and set aside on a clean plate to cool.

Place the rest of your dry ingredients in a food processor. Add the pinoli once they have cooled slightly.

Next, take a picture of your adorable puppy... oh wait, that's just what I did!

Back to the pesto...

Turn on your food processor, and slowly stream in the EVOO. You will have a creamy, smooth pesto:

Set the pesto aside while you put together the rest of your dish.

Assembly

Place the pan you used to toast your pinoli back on the stove over medium-low heat and add the extra teaspoon of oil. Place the sage leaves in.

Let them cook on one side for about 30 seconds, then flip to the other side for 20-30 seconds until they are fried. Remove from the pan and place them on a paper towel to soak up the excess oil. Set aside.

Now, arrange your tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms side by side for ease of access.

Place the tomatoes in a large bowl. (Squish any that haven't popped yet with the tines of a fork.)

Next add the onions...

... then pile on the mushrooms.

Stir!

You should now have an empty baking dish. Scoop the pesto into this baking dish and pour the gnocchi in over them. Stir to thoroughly coat the gnocchi in the pesto.

Use a ladle to spoon the ragout into the bottom of a bowl.

Add a couple of spoonfuls of pesto coated gnocchi to the top of the ragout.

Shave the pecorino romano from the block directly onto the top of the gnocchi and ragout using a vegetable peeler or cheese grater and crumble the fried sage leaves over the dish.