White Asparagus & Ricotta "Mini Malfatti" with a Ramp & Pea Pesto for the April 5 Star Makeover

The theme for the April 5 Star Makeover - hosted by the always-fabulous Natasha of 5 Star Foodie and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks! - centers around a quintessential spring ingredient, white asparagus. As Natasha rightly points out, in Germany people are going nuts right about now for both the white and green varieties, and having just returned from a too-brief two days in Vienna, I can tell you that the Viennese are also asparagus-mad. It was easy to get inspired for this challenge being around so much asparagus love!

My Gnocchi Came Naked to the Party: Nude Gnocchi a la Al Di La Trattoria

Welcome to the international gnocchi party! Hosted by Penny aka Jeroxie, my fellow guests and I have been tasked with bringing an umami-rich gnocchi dish to this virtual shindig. (There's a complete list of the other attendees, with links, and the bottom of this post.)  I took this challenge as the perfect opportunity to re-create a dish that has stuck with me for over 10 years: the malfatti, or nude gnocchi, as they are made at Al Di La Trattoria in my old digs of Brooklyn, NY.

When I first tasted these delectable pillows, I knew next to nothing about food or cooking.  I could tell something gastronomically special was going on, but I couldn't have pointed to the nutmeg, sage, Swiss chard, or brown butter as key players. I just knew I wanted more, more, more - but alas, I was broke and couldn't afford to eat out often enough to feed my malfatti addiction.  Plus I couldn't cook.