Adventures in Gnocchi

A long time ago in a not so far away place I lived in a small two bedroom apartment with 4 other girls and a teeny tiny kitchen.  We tried many a recipe in this location and most turned out well.  Except for the Gnocchi.

I don't know whether it was a failure of mine in reading the directions or a failure of the size of my kitchen or just a failure due to lack of skill.  But Gnocchi beat me and we had to order pizza.

So today confronted with lovely rain instead of sunshine I decided to take Gnocchi on again with the help of a you tube video featuring an accented and attractive italian chef.  I also documented my battle with my ancient camera so I could share the smiting that followed.

Potato Gnocchi

• Sea salt
• 1 pound russet potatoes
• 1 egg
• 1/2 Cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Cup flour

Preheat over to 425.  Salt the bottom of the baking pan and then place the potatoes on top of the salt (don't ask questions - this is how its done lol).  Bake potatoes for 45 minutes.  Let potatoes cool enough so you aren't burning the heck out of your fingers when you remove their skins.

Using a cheese grater, grate the potato.  If you are an awesome grater of potato it will look like this:

In a large pan heat salted water - you'll want it boiling when you've formed the gnocchi. On a clean counter space make a mountain of potato gratings.  In the center of the mountain create a well.  Add the egg, parmesan, nutmeg, black pepper and salt to the well.  Add the flour around the top of the mountain (there is no flour on my mountain below).

Hopefully tactile stuff doesn't bother you - otherwise why would you be messing with Gnocchi?  Use your fingers to scramble the egg in the center and then begin pinching and kneading all the ingredients together.  Shape the Gnocchi dough into a log.

Now cut the dough log into 4 pieces.  Then take each piece and cut into three equal pieces.  On a clean un-floured surface, roll each piece until it is a snake about 1/2 inch in circumference.

Sprinkle flour on top of these rolls and then slice into 1/2 inch pieces.  Set aside pieces until all dough has been dealt with.  Do this quickly - because the italian guy said too.

When pieces have been formed.  Take a zester/cheese grater and using your thumb roll each piece of dough off the grater.  This forms a well in the center of the dough and adds texture to the back.  It will help each Gnocchi to hold sauce better.  If this is confusing, definitely watch the italian guy do it.  You'll get better with practice.  They end up looking like this.

In that water you started heating earlier - add Gnocchi slowly to water.  When the Gnocchi rises to the surface of the water it is done cooking (about 90 seconds) remove from water.  Don't let it sit in there too long cause its texture will get "gummy" - or so I've heard.  This is what cooked ones look like.

Toss Gnocchi in some olive oil so they won't stick.  There are ways to freeze Gnocchi for later - but you've just been cooking for 2 hours or so.  In my world that means its time to chow down not time to save for later.  So I'm not including those directions.

Instead, in celebration of conquering the beast that is Gnocchi, I vote to throw Gnocchi in a bowl with your favorite sauce and to commence eating :)

Oh and here's the fantastic Italian guy showing you all that stuff in a much better way :)