Gnocchi with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Why cast-iron is king, and a rehash of a recipe, but with pictures!
I was reading a post about sunglasses the other day in ACL1, wherein the author, describing the company Rose & Co.2, made the following statement:
His frames were everything I wanted in a pair of glasses and another part of my uniform was decided — I had found my eyewear designer. I made a point to not even consider buying anything else because I had found the best possible glasses for me. It’s one more thing I didn’t ever need to think about and that’s exactly what I’m shooting for when it comes to clothing and accessories.
That sentiment struck me, because it’s such a satisfying way to approach consumerism, life: “I [have] found the best possible [thing] for me… [and] I [don’t] ever need to think about [it again].”
I have a few3 things like that. I don’t need to spend countless hours researching the “best water bottle,” because anyone who knows me knows that I’m already committed to YETI4. When it comes to foul weather attire, it’s Bean Boots and Barbours. Need a pair of flipflops? Rainbows are the only option5.
My thoughts about cookware can be distilled the same way: unless you have a very specific reason not to, you should use cast-iron. Sure, you can say that cast-iron is slow to heat up, a pain to clean, heavy. Sure, non-stick is easier in almost every way. But there’s something immensely satisfying about being able to use a single pan on the stove, in the oven, over a fire; searing meat, roasting veggies, baking bread; doing it day after day, year after year, decade after decade6.
There’s probably a reason we have like a dozen of them7.
Maybe, one day, I’ll write in more detail about why exactly I like cast-iron8, but that won’t be today. Since tomorrow we’re heading “down the shore,” we really didn’t do too much fancy cooking this week and I don’t have anything really new to write about. Instead, I’ll rehash a recipe I did about a year ago9 on Gnocchi with Tomatoes and Mozzarella. You can read that here, which is a three paragraph post in its entirety, or below, where I included some pictures.
This recipe does start off similar to last week’s, but the focus here is less on the sauce and more on the cheese. If you don’t like it, sue me!
Mince some garlic and halve some cherry tomatoes10. Set aside. In a large, oven safe cast-iron pan, heat up some butter. Add some pre-made11 gnocchi to the pan, and let them get nice and brown. Set aside and add more butter.
When the butter is bubbling, add the garlic until soft and aromatic, them dump on the tomatoes. You can add wine as they cook down. If you’d like, you can also brown some sausage in a separate pan to add to the mix. You can also turn on your broiler at this point.
When the tomatoes are starting to release their juices and the wine has cooked down, go ahead and add the gnocchi back to the pan, along with the sausage, if using. Turn off the heat, slice up some fresh mozzarella, layer on top of the gnocchi and sausage, and pop under the broiler for 3-5 minutes until gooey and brown. Top with fresh basil and enjoy!
And there we have it. This recipe can really come together in about 15 minutes and is perfect for a weeknight. I’d say, too, if you’re not feeling gnocchi, you could slice some nice crusty bread, top it with the tomato and sausage mix, and then put that under the broiler with mozz for a lovely bruschetta. Just do what feels right to you.
As I alluded to earlier, we’re away next week so if you don’t get a Friday recipe, I apologize in advance. In all likelihood, I’ll, instead of pecking away at my keyboard, be either sitting in the sand, wading in the water, boogying on a board, or otherwise be preoccupied with the #SaltLife. Any reader who feels like they have a recipe worth sharing in my absence, please send, and maybe we’ll be cooking with you next week!
As always, enjoy what lingering glimpses of the sun we have left: Winter is coming.
A lifestyle newsletter that touches on everything from watches to golf to style to fatherhood to love letters to lawnmowing. Cool stuff.
Not to be confused with Rose Apothecary, even though the owners, curiously enough, share the same name.
But probably not enough, specifically designated.
Shareholder disclosure: I own three shares.
Great ode to Rainbows can be found here.
We have a few that originated with Mrs. CWD’s great, great grandmother. Wild!
Which is probably overkill, but somehow we manage to make use of all of them.
It’ll be about as easy as writing about why everything tastes better outside: it’s ephemeral.
Before we were heading on another vacation, up to Maine that time.
You can also quarter full tomatoes, or just use full grape tomatoes.
Or homemade… Grammy, we’re all waiting for your recipe!