Don't Gnocch-it before you try it: Goat Cheese and Chive Gnocchi with Asparagus

Although I find recipes on the Kitchn blog to be hit or miss, I feel like I have loyalties to them because they were the first food blog I started following...mainly because Google Reader included it in a package deal of RSS feed suggestions for me. Regardless, their posts inspired me to start cooking more, and here I am.

One of the best hits I've had with their recipes is the Goat Cheese and Chive Gnocchi with Asparagus. It is super easy to make, even for a dough-phobe like myself, and the goat cheese gives the gnocchi a tastier bite than ricotta based gnocchi.

The original recipe says that it serves 2-4, but I doubled the recipe and it fed a total of 3 friends who had already had some soup to start. So I'm going to include the doubled recipe here. Continuing my attempts to tweak recipes, I added a shallot to the sauce, and it turned out to be a nice touch.

Quick tip: Trader Joe's has fairly inexpensive goat cheese.

Ingredients

8 ounces goat cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup fresh chives, chopped
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 - 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. asparagus, washed and trimmed
1 large shallot, chopped or minced
6 tablespoons butter

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine goat cheese, Parmesan, eggs, 1/2 cup chives and 2 teaspoons salt. Mix with a fork until smooth. Add one spoonful of flour at a time until dough forms but is still a little wet.
Lightly flour a cutting board and line a cookie sheet with wax paper.
With floured hands, take about a handful of dough at a time and roll each piece until it resembles a rope about 1 inch thick. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. Use excess dough from the rope in the next handful. Place gnocchi on wax paper-lined pan and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Bring a pot of water to boil for the gnocchi. Meanwhile, cut asparagus into 1 inch pieces. Steam over boiling water for a few minutes, remove from heat and set aside.
When water is boiling, salt generously. Add gnocchi and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until they rise to the surface. Drain and set aside.
In a large sauce pan, heat butter over medium heat until it begins to brown. Mix in the chopped shallot and let cook for about 1 minute. Add the asparagus, gnocchi, 1/2 teaspoon salt and remaining chives. Toss everything together and cook for 1 minute. Add black pepper to taste.

Mixin' it all up:

The eggs break down the goat cheese pretty quickly, resulting in this goop:

Adding flour! Hello doughy stuff!

Meghan loves raw dough, so I let her eat one: