...in cilantro lime cream sauce with assorted mushrooms and yes, Fiddlehead ferns are still available. Gnocchi can take on so many flavors when you feel like going to all the trouble.
Many times they are served alone in a dish with a sauce, but adding some greens to compliment (broccoli Rabe, spinach, or greens) will help make it a more complete meal.
In Verona every year is a Gnocchi festival called, “Venerdì Gnocolar” (Gnocchi's Friday), and it takes place during the carnival season. This information and recipe were found on 'Cooking with Patty', and she has such a cute site!
2 lbs – 2 oz. whole baking potatoes
2 heads roasted garlic, mashed with 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 beaten egg
2-1/4 cups flour
pinch of salt
Boil the potatoes whole with the skin in salted water until cooked.
Drain the potatoes and then peel them while hot (careful not to burn hands). Pass the potatoes through a potato ricer and into a bowl. At this point add the roasted garlic mixture, and then add Add the flour, egg and a good pinch of salt. Mix until you have a nice pliable ball of dough.
Prepare a work area and dust it with flour. Take the dough, a piece at a time, and roll it out with your hands until you have rolls about 3/4 inch in diameter. Cut the tubes of dough into pieces about one inch long. With a fork, holding the tines against the work surface, use your finger to press a piece of dough gently against the fork and roll it slightly then letting it fall to the table.
Handle the gnocchi carefully so they don’t loose their shape. Place them on a lightly flour plates. Keep them apart so they don’t touch one another or they’ll stick together. Bring a big pot of water to a boil and then add the gnocchi carefully a plate or two at a time. When they float to the surface they are ready just remove them with a slotted spoon and set them in a strainer to drain off the excess water.
Make double batches and freeze them. After they begin to dry add more flour in the container around gnocchi, so they do not touch.
Sauce- saute some roasted garlic and mushrooms in olive oil- add chicken stock to cover ingredients, cook the gnocchi till tender, then add a splash of heavy cream and garnish with cilantro and lime. I boiled the fiddlehead ferns separately for 15 minutes, rinsed them, and added at the end. They gave this dish an added crunch.
This year it seems a bit odd to see Fiddlehead fern fronds so late in the year, but Whole Foods has said they are coming out of Oregon, and with the weather still being chilly this late in the year, maybe they have not unfurled in their neck of the woods. - Check out Mark's Daily Apple recipe for Primal Bacon Fiddleheads
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