Getting back into the groove with speedy gnocchi dish...

We finally have trimmed our Disney pictures down to a reasonable 200 or so and uploaded them (we have many more, but that is all we can show with flickr right now). Rather than try to pick and choose, I'll just add a link below that you can click on if you want to browse through them. It will probably take us a few days to add titles or descriptions though.

We went back and forth a few times about where we wanted to stay, but we ended up at the Port Orleans French Quarter Resort - we had a very quiet room that had a fantastic view of the water way! Very relaxing.

Thanks to the Disney dining plan, we were quite well fed (honestly way too much food for us though) - a few of the highlights were Jiko (Animal Kingdom Lodge - one of our top picks with amazing food!), WolfGang Puck's cafe (downtown Disney), Todd English's bluezoo (Swan and Dolphin) and Le Cellier Steakhouse (Canada, Epcot). We just savored the food, instead of trying to take pictures, but we did take a couple snaps of the Le Cellier entree and desserts.

Jeff had the Filet Mignon with wild mushroom risotto, white truffle and herb butter sauce.

I chose the Chili-Seared Pork Tenderloin with pickled vegetables and Udon noodles tossed in peanut sauce.

Both of our savory dishes were excellent! We went the fun route with desserts - we shared the Chocolate Moose...

and the grownup Campfire S'Mores.

We hopped back and forth from the parks several times and took our time checking out all the nooks, crannies and hidden Mickeys that can be found throughout Disney World. I could post picture after picture here, but feel free to browse through the pictures at flickr.

Click here for our Disney flickr pictures.

I've been kind of picking through the pantry and freezer for our lunches and dinner the past couple of days, but decided to make a run to the market this afternoon to up a couple ingredients for tonight's Gnocchi with Broccoli Rabe, Caramelized Garlic, and Parmesan.

This speedy dish starts out by removing that extra bitter bite from the broccoli rabe (also labeled rapini) by dropping the greens into a pot of boiling salted water for a short time. Once scooped out and set aside to drain, prepared gnocchi is dropped in and left to bubble for just a couple of minutes until the potato-y pieces float up to the top. Before draining them, be sure to save a bit of the starchy water that will be added later on.

To caramelize the garlic, flour cloves worth of thinly sliced pieces are added to a healthy layer of olive oil - however, just be sure to keep an eye on them. You want to take them far enough that most of them achieve a light golden color - all of the pieces don't have to be perfectly golden though as they can go from done to burnt quickly and will add an unpleasant bitterness. To finish the dish, the broccoli rabe, gnocchi and reserved liquid are added to the toasted garlic to warm the ingredients back up.

Once plated, a shower of fresh grated Parmesan cheese is added on top for a sharp note. Quite light, the pillow-y bites of potato and tender greens had a nice clean flavor with a bit of heat from a dash of crushed red pepper added at the end. The garlic was a perfect touch with its mellow sweetness to contrast against the tamed bitterness in the broccoli rabe. I'm not always able to find the specific green called for in this recipe, but I would have probably substituted broccolini, which I can usually find no problem, if my market didn't have the rabe in stock.

Recipes
Gnocchi with Broccoli Rabe, Caramelized Garlic, and Parmesan