Gnocchi is a pasta that I got to only sample in America. My best friend from the Philippines has an Italian father so I did get great food during high school. Their pasta was always made fresh and the sauce, always delicioso! Her mother’s risotto is also great, but that’s a challenge for another day. However, no matter how much Italian food I was able to try, gnocchi was one of the unknown ones for me. However, people do talk about making it so I tried making it (manually).

(They kind of look like little potato fluffy marshmallows. Making this reminds me of Palitaw, which is a Filipino dessert made with rice flour)
Ingredients for Gnocchi:
4-5 pieces of potatoes, boiled and mashed
2 cups of flour
one egg
1 pinch of salt
Instructions:
1. Boil the potatoes and mash them with a masher. I don’t have one so I just used my fork and then my hands (best and cheapest tools of a cook!)
2. Add two cups of flour to the mashed potatoes. Make a well with your hands.
3. Add the egg in the middle and the pinch or salt. Mix well and knead into a dough. Feel free to use a mixer, I don’t have one so I used my hands.
4. Roll some of the dough and make a dough line of half an inch thick. Cut with a pizza cutter in half inch sizes. Do until the dough has been used up.
5. Drop in boiling water and the gnocchi floats up when cooked already.
6. Store other gnocchi in a container with olive oil so it doesn’t dry up or get too starchy.
7. Now, on to the pasta sauce. I decided to make a mushroom-wine cream sauce with some spice.

Ingredients
Crimini mushrooms
Aged bacon, diced
3/4 cups of chardonnay or pinot grigio (feel free to use white wine that you know. I don’t know much about wine or cooking with alcohol :D )
1 cup of cream
1/4 cup tomato sauce
garlic, minced
onion, diced
parmesan cheese, grated
chili flakes
pepper, parsley, salt
fresh basil
mozarella and provolone cheese, grated
Instructions:
1. In a sauce pan, cook the bacon until it starts to brown. Add the garlic and onions and cook until onions are transparent. Add the mushrooms.
2. Add the chili flakes. I cook the chili flakes so that the spice gets introduced early and that the kick is there!
3. Add the white wine and cook the alcohol off for 5 minutes.
4. Add the tomato sauce and cream. Toss in the chopped basil leaves.
5. When it simmers, add the seasoning and other herbs but do not over-salt because the cheeses will be salty.
6. Add the cheeses to help make the sauce thicker. If it is a bit runny, add 2-3 teaspoons of flour to help thicken the sauce a little.
7. Add the cooked gnocchi and serve.
8. Enjoy!
