Hooray For Sweater Weather

It’s finally arrived, and what better way to celebrate than with red wine and pasta.

On Saturday night my husband Joe and I headed over to our friend Christine’s house where Joe taught us how to make the perfect gnocchi dinner. I’m no expert in the kitchen, and have a very short attention span for any type of cooking class, but I was ready and excited to learn. And by the end of the dinner I felt like I did retain a small bit of the information. Even if it was learning that there are no real truffles in most truffle oil.

Joe is a pasta expert. Me, I barely know how to boil water. He’s manned the pasta stations at restaurants like Della Femina and trained with Tom Colicchio to open Topping Rose House.

Red wine and pasta created the perfect pairing to celebrate the first brisk weekend of fall. To start, Joe went over the ingredients and put the potatoes and tomatoes in the oven. To be honest, during this part I kind of lost focus, knowing this probably isn’t a dish I’ll ever master on my own. A lot of the recipe goes by feel and I’m more of an exact measurement kind of person.

For the sauce options, we created a classic tomato and a pesto with black truffle. Both turned out really well, probably because I had nothing to do with making them. I always know when to step back and let the professionals take over.

For me, the night was a good excuse to try out my new Polaroid camera that I bought on a whim last week. (See photos. I’m thinking about phasing out the iPhone camera and going all Polaroid, but we’ll see.)

Then came the fun part. Joe showed us how to roll a few of the gnocchi, which may have resulted in some non-perfect gnocchi shapes, but they tasted just as good nonetheless.

The result was a set of light and fluffy little morsels of heaven. The final product included a mix of gnocchi with pesto and gnocchi with classic tomato. First served separately, mixed together in the same dish, they were even better. Every bite was more delicious than the last.

I urge everyone to host a gnocchi night on a brisk fall or winter night. If you’d like to learn Joe’s recipe it’s up on http://www.indyeastend.com, just click on dining.

The next day, as a lower calorie activity, we went apple picking. This went really well until I accidentally ate a berry that was definitely not a blueberry next to a sign that said “Blueberries, ready to pick.” Luckily, no calls to Poison Control. Like I said, I am no expert in the kitchen.

jessica@indyeastend.com
@hamptondaze