Gnocchi with Michael Chiarello

Just to warn you of what I'm starting here, I thought what with all my new recipes I'm trying, why not tell people how they were? You know, if I liked them, what I would've done to improve it, etc. So without further adieu, I bring to you my first of what could be many, or extremely few blog posts. haha.

Warm Basil Gnocchi Salad with Carpaccio of Tomatoes

I found the recipe on my favorite recipe site, the food network.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/michael-chiarello/warm-basil-gnocchi-salad-with-carpaccio-of-tomatoes-recipe/index.html

I actually recently learned that I can't stand Michael Chiarello (thank you Top Chef Masters for helping me understand his wretchedness). However, the man knows how to cook - so why not follow his lead. Zack's been bugging me to try this weird potato concoction so I thought 5 years was long enough to be told to do something - I'm trying it!

So as far as things I'd change about this recipe - well for one, I'd just say to make a more olive garden like salad. The carpaccio tomatoes weren't really my thing. I need more in a salad than tomatoes and lettuce. Especially since I don't even like tomatoes that much.

I also totally forgot to add the parmesan cheese! I thought it would be a horrible mistake but after adding it, I think I could've left it off. It made it healthier and I didn't feel like it added much to the dish. Maybe ricotta would have, but I HATE. HATE. HATE. ricotta cheese in anything other than lasagna. period!

Things I'd leave exactly the same - the vinaigrette. I'm shocked to say I really liked it. I hate most things lemon but this was really good. It didn't even taste that lemony. That was probably thanks to the massive amount of pepper I put in it as well :) mmmmm.... pepper!

As for the MAIN ingredient - I made the gnocchi as instructed, and according to Zack, it was cooked perfectly. I guess perfectly for gnocchi means it should taste like an uncooked bread dough? I was not a fan. I mean, would you serve uncooked dough as a dish?? No one would eat it. Well, Zack did, but he's not really a good judge of what not to eat. He eats a lot :) God love him for it because lord knows I've made some mistakes in the kitchen! haha.

Zack didn't like the whole gnocchi with salad idea, so he in turn, made a salad and separately put the gnocchi in a bowl with some gravy, which he said was fantastic. So maybe that's really how you eat gnocchi? I tried his too and again, had that uncooked dough feeling, but covering it in gravy, not too bad!

Things that would make/made this dish better - would be to pan fry the gnocchi. I mean, if gravy makes everything better, pan frying it makes everything gloriously better. Zack offered to fry some up, with the second half of hte recipe and I'm glad he did. I was imagining that they'd taste like fried mashed potatoes and THAT sounds delicious to me! Once again, I was totally and 100% correct. These taste like fries mixed with mashed potatoes or something. It was amazing. You can never go wrong with salty fried potato products.

What I didn't like most about this dish was how complicated it is to make. It's pretty much like making your own pasta - guess how many times I've done that - Never, thank you very much! Nor do I intend to... unless I just did? Is gnocchi pasta? I don't even know what it is honestly. Some kind of creation of it's own. But frying it was good. That's all that matters.

I think my next recipe is going to be some slow cooker jambalaya. Now, I've eaten a LOT of jambalaya, but never have attempted making it, so it should be an interesting endeavor.