Gnocchi I can never forget

Living in Europe is an incredible experience, and specific memories resurface to haunt you every now and then - timing yourself to the second so you don't miss the train in Germany, controlling the urge to stop at every shop window and drool at Belgian chocolate, sitting on the footpath with a complementary glass of wine as you wait for a table in the restaurant, diving into giant blocks of delicious home-made cake that only a German can make... specific situations that one couldn't forget and you'd wish to relive those instants over and over again...

One such memory that never leaves me is this beautiful lunch of gnocchi I had in Bologna. It had been a hectic morning, mostly spent shopping and looking around the city, and we were heading back to my host's home for lunch, when we passed by this delightful little shop whose counter was stacked with all sorts of delicious looking pasta. It seemed to be a popular place, judging by the crowd, even though it was traditionally past lunch-time (not that the Italians are that time concious anyway). We picked up some gnocchi, which was scooped up and weighed into a paper bag - and hurried home so we could eat soon.

Bologna

As I tried to help in the kitchen, my hostess went about fixing a "quick and easy" meal, apologising the whole time that this is going to be really simple food. She put a pot of water to boil, and as she did that she sliced some tomatoes, threw them onto a plate, shredded some fresh mozarella onto them, grabbed some basil from her potted plant, drizzled some olive oil, salt and pepper and left the plate to "rest". That took about a minute, and her caprese salad was ready! Next she chopped a few more tomatoes, a couple of other vegetables, crushed garlic and threw this all into a pot to cook, with some seasoning. The timing seemed perfect - just as the pot got hot enough, the water was boiling too. She tossed in the gnocchi, let them cook a couple of minutes, strained them out and tossed them in with the rest of the hot vegetables. Another two minutes and lunch was ready - all we had to do was serve ourselves and top it off with some freshly grated parmesan cheese. It all seemed frightfully easy - so much so that she felt the need to apologise for the simplicity of this meal... and yet, that flavour lingers, even so many years later. I'm not sure what it was really, that makes me want to go back and do this again - was it the experience of living a slice of Italian life, the simplicity with which a delicious meal was prepared, or just that it was THAT GOOD.

Who knew back then that I'd remember that meal for years to come - I wish I had taken a picture back then... this one is ripped off from the Internet:

Image courtesy: http://thesensitiveepicure.blogspot.in/2011/04/gluten-free-gnocchi-with-tomato-sauce.html

With Slyly Simple I hope to share this memory with you - perhaps we cannot recreate the beautiful city of Bologna here in Bangalore, neither can we add the charm of being hosted by a wonderful family. What we can do, however, is create some hand made, fresh pasta for you, so you can experience the joy of a simple Italian meal in the comfort of your own home.

Simple living in Tuscany