Hi all!! Phewww!! I have been crazy busy working really hard lately on all sort of projects some involving Ramona’s Cuisine, some not. But hey, here I am to finally share these exciting news with you.
Ramona’s Cuisine was one of those super fortunate blogs to be chosen and some of my pictures are featured in this wonderful game- Tasty Words 2. It is available to download for FREE!
You can download the game from Amazon, Google Play Store or Apple Store!
The game creator is lovely fellow food blogger Melanie Dompierre at Skillets & Pots. A link to the full, original blog post is inserted about this wonderful and fun game. Have a look!
How many food bloggers do you know?….
Well, did you actually know that in 2015 there were more than 227 million blogs in the blogosphere? Wow, I Know!! It is not that easy to say how many of them were food blogs. This game will help you discover a few that you may have never heard of before!
Melanie has teamed up with a mobile game developer Second Gear Games to put together a word game. This features a selection of our best pictures and tasty recipes in order to please your eyes and tickle your brain 😊
Playing a game – the best way to learn!
It is scientifically proven that you learn better and faster while having fun. If you are a home chef, or just someone who loves everything about food, there is a wide variety of resources out there that you can use to learn new recipes, cooking and presentation tips and nutritional information. What this game adds to the mix is a bit of fun and a format that is uncommon for food blogs: recipes as word and find-the-difference puzzles.
Discover…
The game is free to download and play too. It is available for Apple and Android phones and tablets. Another cool bit it’s also that The game can be played in 5 languages: English, French, Spanish, German or Russian.
You could practice culinary vocabulary in a new language of your choice, or just play in your native tongue for a lot of fun. Each puzzle links back to the original blog post with a recipe provided by our contributors.
I hope you will all give the game a go! It’s a fun way to discover new foods, some wonderful bloggers and delicious recipes. All of this while spending time playing on your phone!
I am on level 7!! 😉 Great fun!!
now, Coming to my gnocchi recipe with asparagus, and mascarpone cheese sauce…mmmmm, delicious!
No matter how much you trying to find some good gnocchi in the supermarket, none are to be compared to the homemade ones. Ever! Agree? I am sure you will do after this.
You do know, I strongly advocate homemade bread, homemade soups, homemade pasta, in two words “homemade everything”. I so like my homemade food and gnocchi make no exception. Besides, they are super easy to make, a lot easier than homemade pasta.
I enjoy making my own gnocchi and many times (as you may know me by now) love getting away from the usual. Nothing new here, I always do this. I do add different ingredients to get different flavours but also various colours. I love colourful food! Colour for me means, health, cheer, life, good energy and fabulous vibes.
This time I have fried some peppers into a little tiny amount of oil and added the turmeric and paprika powder to intensify the colour of these gorgeous gnocchi.
Please do not get put off to making gnocchi at home thinking they are hard to make. This is actually not true. They are simple and fairly quick to make no matter what you decide doing or adding to them. Here’s the proof!
A few Tips…
- If you have some potato mash left over it will make this super fast.
- Also boiling the potatoes instead of baking them will save you a good 1/2 hour.
- They freeze very well so feel free to make more and freeze some portions for later.
This is not to say that you cannot buy ready made supermarket ones. There are some good ones out there, you just have to look out for it. So, if you’d like to cut some corners or you simply don’t fancy making them at home of course there are always alternatives. We all do cut corners at times, right? Time is not always on our side in fact this is never on my side and it’s all a ridiculous rush- rush-rush!
If you do buy the ready-made gnocchi, it will reduce the time this recipe takes to make by about half an hour or so.
Let’s give it a start then, shall we?
Gnocchi recipe with asparagus, peppers and mascarpone cheese sauce
Ingredients
To make the gnocchi:
- 100 g flour keep 1 tbsp for dusting
- 350 g white potatoes Russet potatoes
- 100 g sweet potato
- 1 egg medium-large
- 1 red pepper
- 1 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Paprika powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper a generous pinch
For the sauce:
- 3 tbsp Mascarpone cheese
- Tomato sauce
- Italian herbs
For the rest of the dish:
- 1 tbsp butter
- 250 g baby mushrooms
- 6-7 asparagus stems
- 4-5 mini peppers pimientos dulce
- 3-4 tbsp fresh Parsley chopped
Instructions
To make the gnocchi:
- Wash, prick with a fork and bake the potatoes at 200°C or 400°F for about 40-45 minutes to an hour, depending on the potatoes sizes. They need to be nice and tender. You may also boil them – just as you would do for a good potato mash.
- The sweet potato will bake quicker so keep an eye on that. *
- While the potatoes bake, place a pan on the stove on medium fire add a drizzle of oil and fry the pepper along with the turmeric and paprika powder. Blend this and set aside. * This is optional for extra flavour and colour.
- When the potatoes are ready and baked, take out of the oven and cut into two. It helps with cooling as well as scooping the flesh out. Scoop out the potatoes flesh into a bowl and mash. Add the egg, salt, pepper, the blended pepper and most of the flour. Knead into a dough hopefully that’s not too sticky. If it is, add a little more flour as you go along.
- Cut the dough and roll into long ropes (approx 1 cm thick in diameter). Cut into 1/2inch (approx 13 pieces). Dust them with flour and then shake any excess off. You may use a gnocchi board to make them look like the real ones with that nice ridges. I didn’t. I like them crazy shapes.
- Cook them into small batches 10-12 at once in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. You will know they’re ready when they start floating. Remove and set aside. Continue doing this until they’re all done. Place them in a colander so they drain of any excess water.
To make the sauce.
- Place a pan on medium fire, add the chopped garlic.
- Add tomato sauce, 1 pinch salt and allow to simmer for about 5 min.
- Add the Italian herbs and the mascarpone cheese. Reduce the sauce for a further 5 min on low fire.
To assemble the dish:
- Place a pan over medium fire, add 1 tbsp butter. Add the sliced mushrooms. Cook for 1-2 minutes tossing occasionally.
- Add the shredded peppers and cook for 2 more minutes, followed by the chopped asparagus and the well drained gnocchis. Give it all a good old toss again and a shimmy. This should be for a good 2 minutes.
- Add the mascarpone sauce and the gnocchi, toss a couple of times and… voilà! You’ve got a wonderful dish.
- Serve with a nice sprinkle of fresh parsley or any herb you may like.
Notes
* To decrease the time of cooking the potatoes you can microwave them (if you’re using one) for about 7-9 minutes or so, again depending on the size of the potatoes and the power you use.
I cannot help much with the microwave timing as I don’t use one.
I microwave a potato at work occasionally for either myself or my colleagues so, I know it’s possible, lol.
The time gets decreased significantly by doing this instead of baking.
There is a compromise on the taste though as baked potato does not taste the same with microwaved one. I love the baked potato taste, it’s just the best if you do not want to compromise on the taste.
I love gnocchi, it’s one of my favorite carbs. You’re right, there are some good frozen brands out there but homemade is much better. I’ve never tried gnocchi with mascarpone cheese but it sounds like it would be creamy and yummy
Thank you Valerie, I love them with mascarpone -so delish.
Homemade is truly the best food you can get. And I love making homemade gnocchi because they are always flavorful, healthy and… you can make A LOT of them 🙂 Yum!
Thanks Danielle, thats so true, I always make more and freeze for later 😉
Yum, such a fabulous gnocchi recipe. I especially loved your tip about leftover potato mash. So handy if you had a lot for dinner the day before!
Thank you so much Mahy, I am so glad you like the recipe 😉
Gnocchi is one of my favorites. Your dish looks absolutely beautiful and sounds amazing. What a fantastic meal <3
Thank you so much Tammy!
wow these look so perfect and happen to be my favorite pasta. I love gnocchi and grew up on them
Thank you dear Claudia 😉
I can never say no to gnocchi. And everything else in that plate compliments gnocchi so beautifully. Love it. I’d love to eat this everyday on hot summer afternoon.
Thank you Jo, I would easily join you too – easily every day- can never say no to these yummy little things 😉
What a scrumptious looking meal, making gnocchi from scratch so time-consuming but rewarding so all the efforts are worth it.
I agree Jagruti, although the time it takes to make them it’s not too bad. They do take me 20-25 min to make plus the boiling – you definitely must try this recipe 😉
Oh wow, this looks absolutely delish! Would love to try this out. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you Krysten, you are most welcome, I am super glad you like the recipe 😉
Your recipe sounds so delicious! It is the asparagus season in my country and I am always looking for new recipes to integrate it in, as it is such a healthy vegetable.
Thank you Joanna, Asparagus is such a great ingredient, it is stuill in season over here too . Soo good!
I would gobble this right up. I’ve always liked gnocchi. I need to make this for dinner one night.
Thanks Amber, I hear you totally, same here, I can never resist a homemade gnocchi meal – too good to miss.
Your Gnocchi recipe looks out of this world!!! Just delicious!!! I can’t wait to try it, can’t wait.
Thank you so much dear Chad!
I’ve been thinking about making some gnocchi lately – you have inspired me. Pinning for later!
Thank you Gavin,
I am so glad I have inspired you, enjoy!
I will definitely have to try this recipe! It looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much Leslie, I am sure you’ll love it!
I am following some food bloggers and most of their recipes are very family-friendly and easy to do since my time doesn’t allow me much. I love the recipe and might try it this weekend.
Thank you Agnes, I know what you mean exactly. Time is never on our favour 😉
From the ingredients it could turn out to be a very heavy dish and instead it is good dosed! Great!
Thank you Cristina, no it is not heavy, you are right, it is a pretty balanced dish 😉
I have made gnocchi a couple of times at cooking classes. It is so satisfying.
It is satisfying indeed, I find that too, thank you so much for stopping by dear Lisa!
Congratulations on the game! I make a similar sauce…but never thought about using it with gnocchi. thankis for the inspiration!
Thank you so much !! It is a fun game, you should check it out. The sauce is just so, so good, right? I am so glad I have inspired you with this recipe 😉 I do hope you will try it super soon.
I really like how you intensified the color of these delicious gnocchi with that turmeric and paprika powder. Looks absolutely stunning!
Thank you so much dear April, I really apreciate your lovely feedback 😉
I always want to try to make my own gnocchi, but I am so intimidated! I think the sounds of this sauce sounds so yummy!
Thank you, they are so easy to make, please do not feel intimidated in the slightest. I felt the same before trying to make gnocchi but it’s so easy to make. The sauce is delicious indeed. I hope you will give making own gnocchi a go soon.
Wow that’s a wonderful recipe. Did you invent yourself or it was passed on to you by your mothers and grandmothers. I would definitely try this one day.
Hi Sundeep,
Gnocchi is not my invention, I wish I was that good but the remainder of the recipe is my own creation 😉 Thank you so much for stopping by. I do hope you will give this recipe a go.
I would really like to try this. Gnocchi is one of my favorite ingredients to a lot of my dishes.
Thank you Alexandra, definitely should try it! It is too yummy not to.
Yumm yumm yumm, I’m getting hunger pangs right in the middle of the night. I am definitely preparing this Gnocchi recipe the first thing in the morning.
Thank you Priya,
I hope you loved the recipe 😉
I haven’t made gnocchi in years… you’ve inspired me! My daughter would have so much fun making this with me. The recipe sounds delicious… the mascarpone sauce sounds to die for!
Thank you so much Susan, I am sure you ladies would enjoy a gnocchi session in the kitcke, the best times ever, right? Mum and daughter cooking together rocks! Enjoy lovelies!