Quaintrelle Weekender

The life cycle of gnocchi and other adventures

Hey there! Could you throw a little love my way? Tap that heart in the top or bottom left of the page. It helps spread the word about Quaintrelle, and also makes me super happy.❤️

My sister and I made Hetty Lui McKinnon’s Gnocchi and Peas With Whipped Feta last week (the gift link is below.) We didn’t use the recommended store-bought potato gnocchi (I always find packaged gnocchi have the texture of brick and the flavour of cardboard.) Instead, we made our go-to ricotta gnocchi (the recipe for that is also linked below.)

As my sister was rolling out the dumplings, and I was whipping the feta, she reminded me of our incredible failures when we first started making gnocchi. This was about 17 years ago; I remember several attempts at trying an Epicurious recipe for potato gnocchi with pork and wild mushroom ragù, and nothing we did worked. One time the gnocchi were too tough, the next, they were falling apart, another the dough kept sticking to our hands… I even consulted with the fancy chefs I worked with at Canoe. They couldn’t understand why we couldn’t understand how to make it. Eventually we gave up and assumed gnocchi just wasn’t in our culinary stars.

But as we put together dinner last week (which was delicious by the way) we mused how cooking takes a bit of gut instinct. A certain know-how that only comes through practice and repetition.

Now when I make gnocchi, I barely weigh out the ingredients, knowing full well the dough’s texture will change from winter to summer, and staying stubbornly loyal to the measurements will literally be a recipe for disaster. But, after thousands and thousands of gnocchi rolled, now successfully, but born from disaster, I know what I’m looking for.

I’ve been reading Nigella Lawson’s Cook, Eat, Repeat. In the headnote/short essay for her chicken in a pot with lemon and orzo, she writes, “It’s not in the spirit of things to be utterly specific with this kind of cooking: if you’re feeding small children, for example, you may not want to add red pepper flakes…. You may want to use just one lemon, rather than the two I like….Your chicken may weight more or less…. And although I have specified the Dutch oven I always use, you obviously will use the one you have, which will make a difference to how quickly everything cooks….” And she goes on to discuss the flexibility and forgivability of the recipe – using thyme instead of tarragon and even swapping rice for the orzo if that’s your preference, which, clearly makes an almost entirely different recipe than the one suggested in the title.

And while that freedom may cause alarm for some cooks who crave handholding at the stove (as I needed 17 years ago), I think it’s important to understand that even the most meticulous recipe writer will always have a slightly different outcome from the person following that instruction a city, country, or half a world away: the home cook’s spice may be older or fresher than the recipe creator’s; the oil stronger or weaker; the stock saltier, the lemons sweeter, or the garlic spicier.

I don’t think it’s fair to change a recipe completely and then leave a bad review lamenting how it didn’t turn out, but I think a little critical thinking and trusting your instinct in the kitchen is a good thing, and to the brave go the just desserts. Or something like that.

(Check out Julia’s thoughts.)

Hello and welcome to Quaintrelle Weekender, my weekly postcard of what’s on my mind.

If you have yet to formally join, just click below to subscribe for free, and while you’re in the clicking mood, maybe you could tap that heart?

This Week’s Big 3

Freaking out? Who? ME? (Hi, it’s me.) This gift article from NYT has solid advice on what to do when you start spiralling. (I read 58 times a day.)

Jamieson Magnesium Bisglycinate, Lemon-Lime Powder. My friend Kristy came to my rescue with this recommendation. In my constant search for quality sleep, she said her doc recommended this to her… and as ladies of a certain age, facing the, uh, draw backs of progesterone supplements (IFYKYK, and if you don’t, I’ll let Dr Marie Claire Haver explain) a nightly tea with this powder does help improve sleep and those, um, back logs.

Aspire with Emma Grede. Emma Grede is a mega-business mogul, instrumental in the successes of brands like Skims and Good American. I have her book on hold on Libby, and it’s approximately a 4-million week wait. So, while I wait it out, I’ve been binging this new-to-me podcast about business, life, money, possibility. Great guests (Tory Burch! Bobbi Brown! James Clear! Reese Witherspoon! Charlotte Tilbury!), great content, great inspiration.

The Weekend Menu

Last Week’s Dinner: Gnocchi and Peas With Whipped Feta (with this ricotta gnocchi recipe)

Tonight’s Dinner: Thai Green Curry

The Weekend Cocktail: The Clover Club (using up the raspberry syrup from last week’s Floradora)

The Weekend Wine: MiniMi Rosé, Provence, France $15

Pre-gnocchi apéro: backyard Floradoras with pecorino and fava beans

Peace out, lovers

I’ll be back on Monday with my TBR list for summer… and a few thoughts on DNF-ing.

It’s all initialisms all the time around here. Time is money, after all.

xoxo – EH

Thank you for reading Quaintrelle.

This newsletter is written by me, Erin Henderson, journalist-turned-sommelier-turned-entrepreneur. I literally drink and throw parties for a living, and on the weekends, I share some thoughts on stylish living.

If you enjoyed reading this post, you could always let me know by clicking that heart, and consider sharing Quaintrelle with all the travellers, party hosts, wine lovers, and cooks you know.