Spanagnocchita

You know how some things seem like a really good idea when they are first presented to you and then when you look into the details you realise it isn’t as good an idea as you thought, but because the initial idea was so striking you can’t fight it and go ahead with it anyway?

Meet spanagnocchita. It is actually called baked gnocchi spanakopita with currants and pine nuts (or something). But you get the idea. You better believe when I saw this recipe I got pretty excited. I really love gnocchi. Those chewy little bastards! I wish there were some in my mouth right now! Also I love spanakopita. What a beautiful marriage this would be!

And then I read the recipe. Cook the gnocchs. Cook some silverbeet. Make a shit load of white sauce. Layer the gnocchi, silverbeet, pine nuts and currants in the white sauce. Bake. You may think that inspired by K’s cooking from the old Australia Woman's Weekly Best Ever Recipes that I pulled this recipe from the 80s. You would think that, what with all the white sauce and dried fruit, but I didn’t. It is from a fairly recent issue of delicious! Look, I don’t really like béchamel that much. I mean, I like it in a lasagna, surrounded by other things like tomatoey sauce. And I did eat it in a crepe with mushrooms and spinach just yesterday. But I guess the key is moderation. It could never be the hero of the dish for me. And yet the idea of gnocchi spana kept calling to me with its siren song. I kept telling myself it wouldn't work out. That with all that béchamel the spanakopita name didn't delong anywhere near this thing. But I just kept getting pulled back to the idea of it.

Guys, I wish this story had a happy ending. I mean, I didn't even put the currants in, but that fucking meal was... it was... It wasn't awful. Gnocchi and cheesy sauce and pine nuts and silverbeet... of course it wasn't terrible. The best thing I can say about it is now it is done and I can move on with my life.