Gnocchi, Sweet Corn & Arugula in Cream Sauce

I tried this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens magazine on a lark and was pleasantly surprised at how easy and tasty it was. Definitely a great recipe for when you're short on time. The recipe said it would take 20 minutes to prepare and it really did. 


Of course, I had to change a few little things from the original. And, we have declared this a "keeper" recipe so I will definitely be making this again soon. 


Gnocchi, Sweet Corn & Arugula in Cream Sauce

(adapted from the May 2012 issue of Better Homes and Gardens)

Serves 4

Approximate cooking time is 20 minutes

Ingredients:

 2 cups of fresh or frozen whole kernel corn

1 pound shelf-stable potato gnocchi

1/2
 cup half-and-half

1/4 cup 2% milk

4 oz of packaged or whipped cream cheese (I used a reduced-fat version)

1/2 
teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 
teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 
cups torn fresh arugula

Crushed red pepper (optional)

Preparation:

 1) In Dutch oven cook gnocchi according to package directions, adding corn the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Drain gnocchi and corn kernels, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Do not rinse.

2) Meanwhile, for cream sauce, in medium saucepan combine half-and-half, cream cheese, salt, garlic powder, dried herbs, and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently using a whisk. Stir in reserved pasta water.

3) Return cooked pasta to Dutch oven. Pour cream sauce over pasta; heat through, if necessary. Stir in arugula. Serve in bowls. Sprinkle with additional salt, pepper, dried herbs, and crushed red pepper.

Notes and Variations: If you don’t love the peppery taste of arugula, you could easily substitute fresh spinach. I also think that you could add in a cup of shredded roast chicken for a more robust meal. And, I am sure that shrimp would be tasty as well. In other words, play around this recipe, it is very forgiving.

Summer in the Garden - Part II

Things are finally starting to pickup in the garden. We have more of our Isis Candy cherry tomatoes starting to ripen. And, the new tomato plants that I planted last week are doing well and growing.

The three basil plants are doing very well. And, it feels like a miracle since we have had several basil plants in the last few months get eaten up my some mystery pest. 

The first flower on our Japanese eggplant plants. Hoping for a few more on this plant and that the other one will start flowering soon as well.

And, after several weeks of worrying, some of our winter squash and gourd seeds are starting to germinate. The seedling above is for ornamental gourds. But, we have a couple of seedlings from our Waltham Butternut Squash seeds starting to come up as well. Now, if only the acorn and pumpkin seeds would germinate. If not, I have a feeling that I may be planting some more seeds. I want to see part of our front yard overtaken by squash and pumpkin vines and I'm not ready to let go of that little dream just yet.

The Meyer Lemons are almost the size of large eggs. There are 13 of them on the tree right now.

Last but not least, one of our red bell pepper plants is starting to produce. This is the largest pepper on it so far. Which is not saying much, since it's about the size of a ping pong ball. But, we are hoping that we will have peppers we can harvest next month.