We are so behind on this week. I had jury duty Monday and Wednesday, resulting in a lovely cold that my husband has now caught. I knew this recipe would be very labor intensive, but well worth the payout, so we had to wait until we had plenty of time to work on it. After a long week, and an even longer weekend, I finally got enough time. I’ve never had gnocchi before, but have seen people make it on Chopped or Beat Bobby Flay. They describe it as pillowy and fluffy, and is usually accompanied by a creamy sauce. This mac and cheese is no exception! I took the hard way, and made my gnocchi by hand (and I do not understand HOW people do this quickly. It took an hour) but you can buy gnocchi in the frozen section at Trader Joes, according to my friends. The sauce is creamy and decadent, but oh so delicious and comforting after a week of sick.

• 2 1/2 pounds of Idaho potatoes (3 large potatoes)
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
• Pinch of nutmeg
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (don’t skimp and get pre-grated friends.)
• 2 cuts grated Gruyere cheese
• 1 cup grated extra sharp Chedder
• 16 cups heavy cream (2 pints, or 1 quart)
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp Tabasco
• 1/2 cup toasted Panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 375 and cook your potatoes until they are soft and easily pierced with a fork. Mine took about an hour and 15. Let them cool before you move on, or you’re going to burn your hand.

Scoop out the inside of the potatoes with a spoon, and put into a potato ricer. I had to buy one for this, and it was super fun mushing the potato. Spread them out a little on your counter, a really big cutting board, or a really big baking sheet because things are about to get messy.

Sift 1 1/4 cups of flour and the nutmeg over your potatoes. Make a hole in the middle for your eggs (save yourself and beat the eggs before you put them in), and 1/2 cup of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Begin kneeding and mixing everything together very gently. The mixture will be very firm. If you need to, add more flour.

Bring a good-sized pot of salted water to a boil while you work on this next step. Here comes the labor intensive part.

Dust your counters with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Take about 1/5 of your dough and begin rolling it out into a long cylinder. The final cylinder should be as even as possible (haha! This is so hard) and about 1/2 inch wide. Start cutting little sections, each 1/2 inch in width. I got out a tape measure, and towards the end realized the best method was cutting each inch, and then halving it. Repeat until all the dough is cut.

I wouldn’t recommend stacking them as you cut them, but instead having someone else take them every few minutes and put them in the boiling water. Gnocchi takes about a minute to cook, but if they float they’re done. Cook them in small-ish batches and use a slotted spoon to pull them out when they’re done. Set aside. Drain pot. Pre-heat oven to 350.

Sauce time! Put your heavy cream in the same pan you used to cook the gnocchi. Bring to a gentle simmer, making sure to keep stirring so it doesn’t get that weird film. Once it’s simmering, add in the rest of the Parmigiano-Reggiano, the Chedder, and the Gruyere cheese, the mustard, 2 tsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper. Simmer and stir until the cheese is melted and your sauce is nice and creamy. Add your Worcestershire and Tabasco.

Turn the sauce off the heat, and add the Gnocchi into the pot. Stir is super gently to mix it up. Let it hang out for about 10 minutes off the heat. Toast your Panko in a small skillet (I didn’t and I wish I had!). Put all that yummy gnocchi into a baking dish, top with Panko, and put in the oven for about 10 minutes. If you forget to toast your Panko, use the broil option on your oven for a minute to brown the top.

We paired this super rich gnocchi with the wine of the (last) week, a Soave. Jen describes this particular wine as a mix between a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc, and I couldn’t agree more. It was a little dry, like the Sauvignon Blanc, but lightly sweet like a Chardonnay. Soave is an Italian wine, typically from around Verona. It became popular in the US after World War II, but was eventually beaten out by Pinot Grigio. The grapes used for this wine are left longer on the vine to become sweet, and build more fermentation. I really enjoyed this wine, and will definitely be looking for it in stores!