Say it…

The schools have closed for the holidays now so I guess my girl is quite free for the rest of the year and the other day, on Monday, she said she would cook gnocchi for lunch. Gnocchi? Gosh!!! What on earth is that? And how do you say it?

Well, it is actually an Italian dish of small dumplings made from potato, semolina, or flour, usually served with a sauce…

…and you pronounce it like this: /ˈn(j)ɒki/. The g is silent so you can just say /no/ as in gnome or you may add a light /j/ (the y sound) and say /nyo/ or just simply /no/ and /ki/.

I don’t think she had any semolina in hers or maybe she did but I did not ask her. What I knew was she used potatoes and flour to make these…

…and for the sauce, she used lots of chopped garlic plus the mum’s prawn stock and these chopped bits of prawns and mussels…

…and other than some cream cheese, she also added this cheese combo…

…and some Italian herbs and chili flakes…

…too.

She made it at least twice before, here and here and this time around, I had it…

…with the lettuce…

…that I bought from the nearby fruit and vegetable shop in the next lane from my house and yes, it was very nice. I sure enjoyed it! With all the ingredients that went into the cooking, it was bursting with flavours!

I was thinking, however, that with a bit of presentation, we may want to serve this at a dinner on some special occasion. The gnocchi can be served on a bed of lettuce with some sliced tomato by the side. The bright red and green would certainly make it look kind of Christmas-y and perhaps, for want of some meat in the dish, some crispy grilled bacon may added and bits of that may be sprinkled on top as well..