Pennycress IS found throughout the US. It is also known as “stinkweed.” The only other plant I can think of that it looks like is shepherd’s purse, also an edible mustard, but the seedpods are heart-shaped.

Was the pennycress you collected mature? Does it have the flat, notched seedpods? It’s very distinctive that way. The young, immature plants are harder to distinguish, in my opinion. I could post some pictures of those on my Facebook page if you need them. Let me know.

Thoughts?

The freezing/lots of eggs is because the texture is all wrong for real gnudi or gnocchi: way too wet, and with no body. The first time I made this I tried boiling like gnocchi – it didn’t work well, they ended up near-dissolving in the water and not having a lot of flavor.

I figured if I added more egg white, the protein would keep them together when heated, but only if I could get it into the pan in one piece: hence the freezing. The nuking is simply because I was a little worried about going from freezer to pan-fry and risking a raw center or overcooked exterior (I think this is paranoia on my part, but I’m working with a new stove that runs much hotter than the last one)

If you can eat gluten, you could follow the fat-of-the-land recipe for wild nettle gnudi to the letter (I link to it on tumblr), subbing garlic mustard for the nettles, and I bet it would be *delish*!