France just like many countries in the world attract people from all places and nations. Some come to France because they love the French culture and language, some come for education. Some came for the work and business opportunities. If France was attractive for its work opportunities in the past, France is now suffering from a very high unemployment. But in the past many people came. For example people from Eastern Europe migrated in the North of France to work in mines, people from Spain came for manual labour, people from French colonies came to France for education and civil rights, and people from Italy came to France for banking

Over the years, those people assimilated themselves more or less into the French culture, but all of them brought with them a bit of their heritage and cuisine;-)

If in the past restaurants in France only served French cuisine, over the years and decades, the Culinary scenery became much diverse. There are restaurants of all cuisine: Japanese, Moroccan, Greek, Chinese,  Italian.

My parents love good cuisine, but they also liked to try new things so they took us once in a while to various ethnic restaurants to taste different food. I am thankful for that. It had allowed me to learn about other flavors and appreciated other cuisine.

Unfortunately it has also made me more demanding of my meals because I know what is authentic. Because I learned to make fresh pastas and fresh ravioli or gnocchi, it is difficult for me to appreciate anything that is packaged. In fact, until today I had never bought packaged gnocchi because I never liked their consistency – How would I know??? because most restaurants here in the States never serve fresh home-made pasta;-(

But the other day, while shopping at Costo I saw a package of Gnocchi and decided to fix it for my family. They are easy to fix and cook in no time ( easy dinner 😉

Well, I will say that they are pretty good. Of course not as good as home-made ones, but one of the best i have eaten in the past.

This evening I served them with a garlic, sun-dried tomato sauce. It was well appreciated by all.

Ingredients for 4-6:

• 1 package of gnocchi ( it has 3 pouches in them)
• 2 cloves of garlic pressed
• 1/3 cup of sun-dried tomato  ( soft ones. I prefer those marinated in olive oil).
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1 bag of about 3 oz of fresh arugula
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar ( optional)
• 1 tbsp of butter
• fresh shredded parmesan
• salt
• pepper

1. Fill a large pot with water and add 1 tbsp of salt. Bring this water to boil.
2. While the water is cooking, prepare the sauce.
3. In a large frying pan, warm up 1 tsp of olive oil.
4. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and saute it.
5. Add the sun dried tomatoes and saute them as well.
6. Add the arugula and saute them.
7. Pour the wine, bring the mixture to boil while stirring continuously.
8. Add 1 tsp of brown sugar.
9. Add the cream and bring to boil as well.  Scrape the bottom of the pan.
10. Lower the temperature, but continue cooking the mixture at a medium-high temperature until the sauce is thickening up. It should coat the back of a spoon.
11. When the sauce is to your liking. Remove it from the stove and keep it warm.
12. When the water is boiling, add the gnocchi. Cook them for about 5 minutes.
13. When the gnocchi are cooked, drain them. Add 1 tbsp of butter and stir.
14. Add the sauce to the gnocchi and mix well.
15. Spoon the mixture in individual pasta bowl and sprinkle some fresh parmesan. C’est tout 😉

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!