Last night, after a LONG and hectic work-day at the hospital, I came home starving and extremely tired. The last thing on my mind was cooking, but I knew that my breakfast (and lunch) consisting of some applesauce and 4 saltine crackers was not going to hold me over until the next morning. I knew I didn't want to cook anything extremely time consuming, anything with a long cook-time or that had a lot of preparation. I also couldn't seem to get this amazing Browned-Butter Alfredo Sauce recipe that I had stumbled upon on Sunday out of my head! I figured I could probably manage to find the energy boil some noodles and to whip up a pasta sauce. After all, how hard could it be? There were only a few ingredients necessary and didn't seem like it would be more work than I could handle at that particular moment.
Since I was now cooking and would most likely have leftovers, I decided to extend an invitation to Steph who worked alongside me all day in the Operating Room because if "I" was tired, she must be exhausted! Let's face it, although I stand there all day, I am not the one who does any of the "actual" work. I am there to offer product knowledge and instrument support (...in a verbal manner...outside the sterile field) ...so really-- I get paid to stand and talk. So, yup-- Steph, who does a lot more activity by physically assisting the surgeons, definitely deserved to not have to cook tonight...
And THEN-- the stars aligned-- and I had what I consider to be the World's GREATEST idea and created the MOST DELICIOUS DISH THAT I HAVE EVER TASTED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! And no, I am not over exaggerating, it was THAT good.
I had recently bought some Truffle and Porcini Mushroom Gnocchi from World Market and have been looking for the right opportunity to use them ever since I had placed those little potato nuggets in my red shopping basket a few weeks ago! (Sorry-- due to extreme hunger and haste, I AGAIN did not photo the process or come up with a great shot of the dish until AFTER I realized what a gem of a meal I had thrown together) So, because of this, all you get is a photo of the empty wrapper.
"Genius Recipe" ingredient #2: balsamic, caramelized onions.
On Sunday after making Just A Taste's, Grown-Up Grilled Cheese on Sunday (the same day I found the alfredo recipe on Iowa Girl Eats "Friday Favorites") I had become the proud owner of some delicious, leftover, caramelized onions. They are so fantastic that it took all of my strength to not just straight-up eat them with a fork throughout the course of the day. But, I stayed strong and had just enough to through in my pasta dish.
Lastly, the alfredo sauce. Very easy, VERY unhealthy. With 1 cup of heavy cream and one stick of butter... you do the calorie math. Not great... But, you only live once and I had only used up a few of my daily calories earlier in the day, so I had plenty to spare. LOL :)
Boil, cook, stir, splish, splash, sizzle-- BEHOLD-- my masterpiece:
Truffle and Porcini Mushroom Gnocchi with Balsamic Caramelized Onions and Browned-Butter Alfredo Sauce (wow, THAT title is a mouthful!) hahaha. Enjoy-- I KNOW you will!
Truffle & Porcini Mushroom Gnocchi with
Balsamic-Carmelized Onions in Browned-Butter Alfredo Sauce
*This is a difficult recipe to type up as it is combined from so many different sources-- here is the quick version with links:
1) Chop Balsamic-Caramelized Onions, set aside (RECIPE)
2) Make Browned-Butter Alfredo Sauce (RECIPE)
3) Prepare gnocchi as described on packaging
4) When finishing up alfredo sauce, stir in chopped onions and pour over gnocchi.Labels: Alfredo, Browned-Butter, Gnocchi, Onions, Pasta, Recipe, Vegetarian
