So a few Sundays ago, I found myself being invited by John Lee for dinner. I obviously said yes because this is the John Lee behind Dinner at Home. Dinner at Home if you are not familiar is  an indefinite series of dinner parties at a private residence in Chicago. It was created to bring people together in an intimate setting over food and conversation the company of old and new friends. Yes I am a lucky girl, this happens right next door. Love it. Anyway John, invited me over for some homemade gnocchi. Seriously. 

What you don’t see in restaurants is that everything takes for-fucking-ever. The entire process lasted 6 hours from making the gnocchi dough to sitting down to eat. That is what you are paying for. In those six hours, John and enjoyed several lovely beverages including his own home brewed Belgian beer- yes this guy does almost everything.

The whole process was really interesting to watch. John sliced his finger while sneezing and cutting some mushrooms so I got to step in and do some stuff namely chop parsley– which I am told I did a great job at– soon I’ll be taking over these dinners! Just kidding. Anyway, the end product was an amazing and was inspired by what’s available at the farmers market and what’s  in season. Ultimately we ate a lovely herb gnocchi with a purée of glazed carrots, sautéed shiitake mushrooms and peas, pea shoots, and browned butter.

I am told that the herb gnocchi and the techniques used for the vegetables is from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon cookbook– so if you are feeling very adventurous you can try it out.