by Chef Rafaela Thomé – in reference to affective cuisine

I cook from a very early age and after a career transition I took on the taste for apron and stove, creating a handmade kitchen based on affective cuisine: The Bendito Kitchen. The first dish on the menu was Spinach Gnocchi with Sauce of Blumenau and Bacon. In Santa Catarina, this sausage has a prominent role in regional cuisine and is part of the table of all lovers of sausages.
Interesting that this recipe has never been part of my life, nor the “Blumenau” sausage … and until then, he thinks … until recently, I considered that the affective cuisine came from the memories of the cook, period. Wow … how much path awaited me!
Returning to the recipe: It came after a workshop focused on different preparations of gnocchi and combinations of sauces. There I realized that only those who love what they do and who they will serve are able to face so many variables that can cause recipe failure and that mess of flour on the countertops.

I left with a mission: to create my own recipe: the lightest gnocchi in the world (even if it came down to “my world”), accompanied by an incredibly flavored sauce and that would make anyone go back to childhood
Look … how many tests, mistakes until you get it right!

I’ll pass the recipe on to you, and I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that the scare and drama of the flour spread all over the place has passed. She even took on another role: serving as a picture while I write affectionate words during production.

Yield: 4 servings
Preparation time: it depends … here the exercise of patience and affection begins 😊

GNOCCHI:
700g Asterix potato
250g of wheat flour
1 egg
80g of grated parmesan
Nutmeg to taste
Salt to taste

Cook the potato with the peel and mash it still warm, then let it cool – you can’t handle it warm, believe me!
Add the parmesan and the egg *, the salt (if necessary after tasting with the cheese together) and grate a little nutmeg.
Put some flour and add it with the potato with a spoon, with love … love, lots of love. It’s not bread to knead, okay? Maybe you don’t need all the flour, maybe you need a few more grams … the point is to get it out of your hand.
Sprinkle the countertop with flour, make snakes and cut very nicely with the knife.
Water, plenty of boiling water, a pinch of salt … put every 20 balls and as soon as they rise count 1, 2, 3 … 7 … take it out and put it in a bowl with cold water and some cubes of ice. After the choquinho, you can put it on the serving plate and on top … that very hot but very hot sauce! End.

Ah … the * egg, let’s start with it: A bunch of spinach (leaves) put in the boiling water for 1min and after that it squeezes out to remove all liquid. 1 egg not blended and that little monkey reduced to nothing together. Beat, beat … about 2min and you have the green substrate to put in the gnocchi and it stays with the Hulk 😊
If you want it to be princesses’ gnocchi, do the process with beets … 😊

SAUCE:
A round of Blumenau sausage
200g of bacon without the skin chopped fine
Slice of garlic
Slice of finely chopped onion
500g pomodoro sauce that you made before
4 tomatoes without skin and seed
Dash of olive oil
100ml of good white wine, nothing to save and put colonial, do not decorate
2 bay leaves
1 small sprig of thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

I like to make it in a big frying pan and start with the skinless sausage torn by hand into small pieces next to the bacon frying in the olive oil. When I make a golden crust on the bottom I put the wine and herbs. When it gets dry again, I open a nest and put the onion and garlic … and when it gets dry … kkkk, put the tomato sauce, tomatoes and there the alchemy happens for about 30 minutes of cooking over a very low heat.

Add the sauce with the gnocchi and you’re done! Remember! Gnocchi is total affective cuisine!
Easy, right? Only not … because the potato may be moist, you can take a long time to add the flour and gluten to make the party, don’t wait for the potato to get cold …, but after we get it right, wow !!! It is one of those dishes to eat kneeling thanking!