Basil Gnocchi with "Summer Sauce" ...

Sunday night's dinner was Epic...EPIC, I tell you!!!  If you haven't guessed from the subtle title:  We had homemade basil gnocchi with a 'sauce' made out of summers FINEST! :)

I found the recipe for the gnocchi in Food Network magazine...which called for the shortcut in the form of THIS...

Now..NORMALLY I would NEVER take such a short cut...mainly because I'm afraid a wooden spoon would come flying across my kitchen via my Grandmother watching out for such culinary nonsense;)   BUT since it WAS a 90-degree August day and standing over a pot of boiling potatoes didn't sound UBER appealing AND we had this box of flakes from GOD KNOWS WHEN (seriously....I don't remember the last time we had boxed mashed potatoes:), I thought I'd give this recipe a whirl:)

ANDDD...I must say, using the flakes made my the gnocchi go from "COOKING EVENT" to just plain 'makin dinner';)  (and thankfully, all spoons remained in their respective holders;)  I mixed up the flakes with ground basil, an egg, grated cheese and salt & pepper until it formed a HUGE bowl of potato-y pesto;)  (not SUPER attractive, I know;)

Next, I added the flour to create a dough consistency and then  rolled them out and cut them into little dumplings.  The trick for gnocchi, for me, is working in small sections at a time...so EACH 'strip' is the perfect consistency of sticky & doughy (which helps create light little babies, rather than the 'weigh you down' variety;)

Another trick:  I actually ran out of flour and used whole wheat pastry flour for half of the batch.  To be honest, the white flour gnocchi WERE a lot SMOOTHER...BUT, the whole wheat ones were just fine!! (and did NOT melt in the pot...which was what I was REALLY afraid of;)  So for an extra fiber boost...you got my (basil) green light to try out a healthier flour:)

I made a double batch and froze them in single layers...  (you can bag them up once they've frozen solid)

And now, onto the sauce!  I was totally obsessed with the idea of adding some SMOKE to the basil-y pasta, so I cooked 3 strips of my Trader Joe's bacon in a pan.  Once it was cooked, I removed it from the pan and crumbled it on a plate for later.  Into the pan went a minced shallot, 3-4 minced garlic cloves and a chopped red onion...

Once the onions and garlic were smelling oh-so-lovely, I added in a pint of cherry tomatoes, 3 diced zucchinis, corn from 1 cob and a little white wine and let that cook down for 8 minutes or so...

Meanwhile, I boiled the gnocchi in a pot of boiling water for 7 minutes.  I know your only suppose to let them 'come to the top' of the water...but I have NEVER gone wrong cooking ANY pasta for 7 minutes and these gnocchi are no exception:) 

I ladled out my gnocchi on the bottom of the dish...

And topped them with my GORGEOUS summer "sauce" and a sprinkle of the crumbled bacon....

I can't even TELL you how good this was!  It was 10,000 flavors rolled into one dish:)  Creamy basil gnocchi, salty/smoky bacon, sweet corn, tart tomatoes...just to die for!  I thought all of these flavors melded together really well, but throw together whatever you have on hand!  (besides, I think my SHOE cooked in bacon would be delectable;)  hahahahahahahahhaa.....

And in other 'wrap up' news of the weekend:  For Sunday Morning breakfast we made a Lemon Rosemary Crumb Cake...

We overcooked it...the crumbs 'melted'....and it stuck to the pan, but ya know what:  it was STILL good:)  It was just a subtle lemony sweet flavor with just a KISS of rosemary that was NOT overwhelming!  Yum:)

And my one LAST tidbit of the day: We went to Halo Farms in Trenton on Sunday morning after a stop at the Trenton Farmers Market.  My heart will forever belong to the 'Farms because it reminds me of when my Grandmom & Aunt would take me there because they used to have a small petting zoo outside the store, which was AWESOME when you're 5:) 

Now why I love this store at 31 is because we got all of this:

FOR THIS:

Does it get any better than THAT??????  Seriously!  Considering milk is normally $3+ at the grocery store, we basically got a free 1/2 gallon + the eggs + the half & half + all the yogurts!  LOVE!

Not to mention, Halo Farms seriously has the GREATEST chocolate milk you will ever have in your ENTIRE life!!!  NO JOKE!  (It's by NO MEANS 'Less' in ANY capacity...but it's a yummy yummy treat:)

Heard enough from me today??????? 

OK...I'm done:)  Have a good Tuesday!