I must admit that when I saw the Gnocchis à la parisienne making an appearance on the French Fridays with Dorie calendar, I was both thrilled and a little concerned at the same time. I mean, cheese. Right? Cheese. Always good. But after December’s food fest and Mexico… Ummm… Not sure we needed a big old cheesy dish to polish off between the two of us. Enter the “it should be on every school curriculum across the world” Maths for the Kitchen and voilà, I made 1/3 of the recipe – perfect for a light Sunday lunch with a simple salad.
The gnocchi dough was very similar to the one for Dorie’s pâte à choux that we made for gougères in the first week of FFWD. Dorie suggested leaving the dough for a couple of hours which worked well for me as I baked and cooked my way through a couple of other blog posts last Sunday morning. I was pretty faithful to the recipe, leaving out only the Parmesan to coat the buttered baking dishes as I simply didn’t think that with cheese and béchamel (and gnocchi that would surely expand in our tummies like pierogies do) we needed more cheese. It’s a rare thing that I think we don’t need more cheese…
It was a bit alarming looking in the oven and right away, I knew these would be just as challenging, if not worse, to photograph than the soufflés I made a while back…
So I took the finished dish to the front hall where I lay on the floor to get these shots. Because taking them out into a snowstorm would have deflated the gnocchi for sure…
The scoop? This was fabulous – cheesy and rich without being over the top rich. We had about 8 little gnocchi (that I piped and cut into the boiling water) in each little baking dish and it was the perfect amount for lunch, served with a salad.
Thanks Dorie – this is a great “go to” recipe for a dish that is as tasty as it is visually impressive. Yet so much simpler to make than it looks… Gotta love that!
Want to join in the fun? Join French Fridays with Dorie here and follow along on Twitter.
A few people have asked for recipes from my French Fridays with Dorie entries. The group does not publish the recipes on our blogs, rather, we would prefer it if you would purchase the book yourselves (trust me, you definitely want this book!) which you can do here on Amazon (great price right now) or here on Amazon Canada (it’s also on special!). Go on, treat yourself join us in 2011!
Love your idea of individual gratins…and I can so relate to the photography dilemma! Beautiful!
Sigh! The dilemma!
I’m looking forward to getting Dorie’s book. Every recipe I’ve seen attempted on different websites and blogs looks so delicious. This one included!
Though I would probably go for the whole cheese experience. 😉
You totally need to get Dorie’s book! I would be interested on your take on it, living in France and all!
Which book is this gnocchi recipe from. It looks delish!
It’s from Around my French Table.
Now, I don’t think I Like gnocchi… but with all these posts about it, I may have to revisit!
These are light and puffy – you should try them!
Loved this recipe! But I think next time I’m gonna make smaller seperate dishes like you. The big pie plate full was just too much. Great job!
Yes I like the look of the little dishes too as opposed to one huge one!
You were smart to make individual portions! They look great in their little individual dishes. We had a rather … larger meal … than we should have! Way to capture some of the puff!
I can imagine how I would not have been able to resist a whole dish worth!!
homemade gnocchi is so impressive! love the individual dishes – a warm, cozy meal for a cold winter’s day.
Like you I did go individual as well (only two of us to feed). And they turned out pretty good. And like any good cook, I totally made my own teaks. Your pictures look yum!
Thanks! It’s a great way to taste lots of things without having to eat a lot of it!
The individual portions look so diminuitive and adorable!
Great idea on the individuals. I had to lol on the photo in the oven. The gnocchi look ALIVE. Great post and I’m sure a nice dinner in the cold weather. B:)
Yes they looked like some alien life forms!
Ah! The adventures of having a food blog and taking food photos! But, it’s all worth it in the end, right? 🙂
This dish looks downright lovely — and I’ve been hankering for gnocchi, so this just might make it onto our dinner table very soon.
Yes, the hazards of taking photos for the blog!
Cheese anything really gets me going. This is totally new for me and has got me thinking…
Jason
It was a revelation for me too!
This looks so amazing! I could eat about 6 dishes of this without blinking!
Well yes, so could I. That’s why I didn’t make the whole recipe LOL!
We made gnocchi last week and they were terrific. We are definitely going to try this variation.
This was definitely an interesting variation!
LOVE the Math for Kitchen comment! That is what I should have done as I ended up tossing half of the dish the next day!
Yes that’s my trick, especially with rich dishes like this – make a teeny portion!
Yum! Looks wonderful. Can’t believe your gnocchi puffed up like that – mind didn’t at all! 🙂
It was a little scary but they calmed down a little!
The Dorie ladies have outdone themselves this week. I think I’ll have to get that book!
You do, indeed! The recipes are truly wonderful!
Perfect little dishes!!
I have to agree…this might have been a bit too rich for January…but darn was it good! Should have made smaller portions like you did, as I ended up eating leftovers of it all week (just finished the last bit for lunch). Your photos look lovely, even if you did have to lie on the floor! Glad you avoided the cold outdoors!!
I always make tiny portions of everything I post!
Mardi you make me wish that I enjoyed cooking as much as I do baking just so I could try and recreate what you post. Great looking gnocchi!
See now and I wish I could bake as well as you! The grass is always greener!
After reading 10 “Dorie gnocchi” posts :), I am ready to go and get this book… your gnocchi looks fantastic!
You *so* need to buy this book!
So delicious… does not bother me if it is dec or no dec… too good to not make it.
I like the way you think!
I would have made this if I had not hurt my eye – cheese, whole milk, and sauce, I don’t care:) And yes, scaling it down matters:)
LOL! I know what you went through while trying to take a picture of deflating food! But your photo is great!
Thanks! You definitely need to give this a try when you are feeling up to it!
How bad is this? I’ve spent the past few hours bookmarking recipes I want to try when I get home, am in one of the best foodie cities in the world and am bemoaning the fact that I won’t be able to cook anything from Dorie until MARCH!
Gah! Definitely joining FFwD when I get home!
Jax x
I can see how, even in Hong Kong, you would be craving cooking especially Dorie’s food!
Beautiful pictures. I hear you on trying to get good shots. I am sure my neighbors find it very strange when I bring food outside to get pictures of it in the day lights…
Oh me too – I am always out in the snow on my front porch with my camera!
Wow, it looks great!! You shouldn’t have had fears about it! I have seen you doing really masterpieces!
What remains a mystery to me is why you say it is so cheesy!! Normally, gnocchi à la parisienne don’t have much cheese on them! it is just a tiny bit sprinkled on it…There is no cheese in the pâte à choux of course…With all my respect for Dorie, I think she deviates from the French original (probably to please the American palate) Much though the French adore cheese, they would not have so much in this dish!
There isn’t actually that much cheese in here – I just added even less, post-holidays and all!
Yum! This looks fantastic… I am loving every single French Fridays with Dorie post. I still haven’t picked up a copy of the book (why? I have no idea)… but now I am thinking I have no choice.
Jen you HAVE to get the book!