Guest Post: Roasted Mushroom Gnocchi in a Smoked Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

We have a guest in our kitchen today!! Heather from Beerx is here, and she has an exciting gnocchi recipe to share!

Sweet potatoes, beets and potatoes have regularly been the vegetable of choice in common gnocchi dough. I decided it was time for mushrooms to shine. Roasted with garlic and butter then pureed smooth these little dumplings are light as a feather and have incredible earthy flavours, perfect for any sauce especially this smoked gorgonzola cream sauce.

The most time spent on this recipe is shaping the pasta, however it is really simple to do and little ones can enjoy helping out.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Serves:  4-6

Ingredients

For the Roasted Mushrooms:

• 2 pints of mushrooms, halved
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

For the Gnocchi:

• 1 cup smooth ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• approx. 2 cups all purpose flour, more for shaping

For the Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup smoke gorgonzola, crumbled
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp flour
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

To Roast the Mushrooms:

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, toss and then spread on the prepared pan.
3. Roast for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly.
4. In a food processor add the mushrooms and blend until minced fine. You don’t want large chunks of mushrooms.

To Make the Gnocchi:

1. In a large bowl stir together the mushrooms, ricotta, egg and salt.
2. Start adding the flour 1/2 cup at a time, mixing it into the mushroom mixture and kneading to form a smooth and slightly sticky dough. Depending on the moisture left in the mushrooms, you may need to use less or more of the flour.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured working surface. The dough may feel a bit too sticky but throughout the process of shaping we will be using more flour.
4. Knead the dough a minute more, incorporating more flour if it is sticking to the counter too much.
5. Shape into a ball and cut into 8 equal pieces.
6. Starting with one piece roll out into a long rope about 1/2″ thick. Using a knife cut into little dumplings 1/2″ wide. Sprinkle the pieces with flour so no sticky edges are exposed.
7. You can just leave the dumplings like this. If you prefer the ridges, then using your thumb and a fork press each piece of dough firmly but gently along the tines curling your thumb slightly into the dough to create a dimple. (Trust me it takes lots of practice. You can check out videos online to help with the technique. But just remember an imperfect gnocchi is a perfect one.)
8. Sprinkle those shaped gnocchi with flour and place on a cookie sheet to dry slightly. Repeat with remaining dough.

To Make the Sauce:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. In another saucepan bring the cream to a simmer on medium heat.
3. Whisk in the cayenne, salt, pepper, and cheese.
4. Add the flour and continue whisking until thick. Remove from heat.
5. To the pot of boiling water add the gnocchi. (If you are only serving one or two people use half and freeze the rest)
6. Once the gnocchi have floated to the top continue cooking 2 more minutes.
7. Drain and toss with your sauce.

Serve & Enjoy!

You can follow Heather on her cooking adventures on Twitter, Instagram ,Facebook and YouTube.