eat your broccoli, kiddo

Here is my broccoli less than a week and a half ago:

and here it is yesterday right before I picked it, can you tell how much bigger it is? In real life it was at least 5 times as big, maybe more!

Anyway, my first broccoli ever harvested! I am so proud, so so proud. Even though I'm not totally sure growing broccoli is really worth the effort in limited space situations, wouldn't another plant produce more stuff and can't you get perfectly good and fresh broccoli for not much money at any old farmer's market? Anyway, back to being proud, what to do with my very first broccoli ever? I like broccoli, I like it a lot, but there is only one broccoli dish that I feel really profoundly in love with, potato gnocchi with broccoli, nuts, raisins and lemon. O.k. you might be scratching your head right now, but the first time I tasted this was truly revelatory. It was my first working interview with R. & C. on Nantucket, and he gave me a little taste of this dish and I just remember looking at the ingredients and barely being able to believe that that much flavor and goodness could come out of so little.

here are the raisins soaking with a few capers in a little vinegar and sugar, also, a tiny tiny bit of anchovy is a secret ingredient.

a little garlic and hot pepper flake with olive oil to start, a little basil and parmesan to finish, along with that last squeeze of fresh lemon juice that ties it all together. I used delicious oregon walnuts, but pine nuts are good too.

I haven't made gnocchi in a while, but it worked perfectly for me last night. Of course it is much easier to make a smaller, home sized batch than it is to make a restaurant sized one.

J. had his with a pork chop. He likes to imagine almost everything I eat "with a pork chop" but in this case, I think it went together quite well. Especially since this was a super delicious pork shoulder steak from square peg farm.

R. didn't include this recipe in his awesome pasta book, but there is a good recipe for potato gnocchi, the best potato gnocchi ever, really, and you can improvise from there, but don't forget the lemon!