With two separate fun-filled San Francisco overnighters fast approaching, Shrek and I have been really good about eating-in in order to budget in these activities. I guess it also doesn’t hurt that Shrek’s a fantastic chef and I recently ate out 10 days straight in Hong Kong. Ever since returning, though, I’ve been craving the gnocchi and mixed greens combo I usually order at Pizza Antica. To my delight last night Shrek whipped up the following and I’ve gotta say it was BETTER than the restaurant’s! First, Shrek’s got the crispy gnocchi down. Gnocchi (a bite-sized potato dumpling) is traditionally prepared boiled like pasta, but I personally don’t find balled potato paste appetizing. It’s just too doughy for me. However, with a little experimenting we found that cooking them in a griddle creates a little crispy flavorful shell a la Pizza Antica that makes them de-lish!

Especially when accompanied with Shrek’s pesto cream sauce. To score even more good bf points, he popped over to Neto Sausage and returned with fresh calabrese sausage and olives along with a bottle of port (for him) and chardonnay (for moi). Neto Sausage is one of those family-run neighborhood gems. They recently moved to a new, larger location on Monroe Avenue in Santa Clara complete with a market deli, sports bar, and restaurant. I gotta say, each night I drive past it on my way home from work and it’s poppin’! Check out their websites: Neto Sausage Company and Neto Market and Grille.

I also got my mixed greens, too! I topped it with a thinly sliced Fuji Apple, freshly grated Parmesan, and cracked peppercorn. Pizza Antica-what?