Gnocchi with Boursin Sauce

In summer I tend to avoid heavy duty dairy cooking, but with the lower temperatures in winter and the increased need for comfort foods I tend to use more cream and cheese.

This is a pretty quick dinner because I don't make the gnocchi myself. I have done on occasion because my Ticinesi godmother Aunt Pina awakened my love for them: hers were the best I have ever tasted, firm yet fluffy.  But it is a lot of work and nowadays some of the ones you can buy in the shops are pretty damn good. So, apologies for my laziness here, but as a result, preparing this dinner takes about as long as boiling up the water for the gnocchi and allowing them to come up to the surface of the cooking water, once you put them on (about 15 minutes).

Next to the ingredients under "What you need" you can see Caroline’s Chicory and Apple Salad with Walnuts (see below).

What you need

• 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
• tblsp butter
• 3 cloves garlic pressed
• 100 ml good white wine
• 1 vegie stock cube
• 100 gr Boursin (alternatively you can use a creamy blue cheese as well) cut into cubes
• 100 ml crème fraîche
• 100 ml fresh cream
• cheese spice mix (I get mine from my old friend Daniel Enz, “Bio Käse-Mix – teeparadies-Kreation”; if you want to make it yourself, experiment with fenugreek, cumin, dried garlic, nutmeg, paprika, coriander chillies, etc. all ground up very fine)
• salt, pepper
• 3 tblsp grated parmesan cheese

What you do

1. Melt the butter and sauté the onions with letting them brown. Add the garlic and stir to prevent it too from browning (as it would start tasting bitter otherwise).
2. Pour in the white wine and the stock cube
3. Stir in the boursin until it has dissolved in the wine.
4. Add the crème fraîche and the cream and reduce.
5. Season to taste with cheese spice mix, salt and pepper.
6. Simmer to reduce a bit further while the gnocchi rise to the top of the boiling water.
7. Serve with grated parmesan or pecorino romano.

To add a bit of vitamins here:

Caroline’s chicory and Apple Salad with Walnuts

5 chicory sliced

2 firm apples (www.biohof-matzwil.ch), mouth-sized, thin pieces

1 handful of walnut kernels

salt, pepper

cider vinegar

pumpkin seed oil

In the salad bowl mix salt, pepper and cider vinegar before adding the pumpkin seed oil.

Add the apples and the chicory and serve with fresh bread.

Caroline has also made her own balsamico-style quince vinegar. More of which at some later stage…