Potato Gnocchi and Mushrooms in Gorgonzola Sauce

I had a near dinner disaster tonight. Well, not really. I had planned on having roasted chicken, but the chicken was still frozen. I thought about doing Tortilla Pie but the avocados I bought last night were still hard and need to ripen up a bit. That left me four other dinners to choose from, from what I had planned out for the week. We had a park play date this afternoon, so I figured I'd see what stuck my fancy when we got home from that.

The boy was having fun, and I was catching up with some friends I hadn't seen much of recently, so it was 5:15 by the time we were leaving the park. I decided to make what ever was going to be the fastest. Since most everything else required defrosting some form of protein, I went with this because I knew the gnocchi would cook quickly. This was one of the recipes from that vegetarian cookbook I meant to get rid of for years and am now insanely pleased that I did not. Looking through it a second time, I found even more recipes I want to make. I don't think I've ever been so excited about eating vegetarian!

Potato Gnocchi and Mushrooms in Gorgonzola Sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
12 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 pound frozen potato gnocchi
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup milk
3 ounces gorgonzola or other blue cheese, cut into small dice
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1/4 tsp salt
Generous seasoning freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large stockpot of water to boil. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and saute until they render their juices, then reabsorb them and begin to get dry, about 10 minutes. Stir often.

Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic to the mushrooms and cook 2 minutes, tossing frequently. Pour in the milk and bring to a boil. Stir in the blue cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper and toss.

Drain the gnocchi and add it to the skillet. Toss 1 minute, or just until the cheese melts. Serve immediately.

*****

I had freeze-dried gnocchi from Trader Joe's, not frozen, so I followed the package directions on that for cooking them. Let float to top and boil two minutes after that. Super easy. The hardest part of all of this was slicing the mushrooms.

I wasn't sure what the husband and boy would think of this because of the blue cheese (I used regular blue cheese because there was no gorgonzola to be had when I went to the store last night). I loved the first bite I took of it, the husband didn't look too sure of it. He said later that he did like it and would eat it again, it was just an unfamiliar texture (gnocchi) and tase (blue cheese) so it took some getting used to. The boy ate it reluctantly at first but then he ate pretty much all I had served him, except one or two gnocchi.

This is definitely something I'd make again. I'm excited to have more things to do with gnocchi because they're inexpensive and super easy to cook. I have a recipe to make my own, so maybe some day when I have a little more time (i.e. my baby isn't a newborn anymore) I'll try to make my own. Anyway, I love easy, inexpensive dinners, and it's also great to have another vegetarian dish to add into the rotation.