Lets cook something nuesday: Gnocchi

Today we were going over to a pot luck style dinner with and Italian theme so I had to pick something Italian to make for nuesday. Some friends of ours had made this dish a few years back, and I thought that it would be a good test of my culinary skills This recipe is a compilation of many recipes. The big difference is that I used Ricotta cheese directly in the dumplings, to help make the a little lighter. So basically you start with some potatoes (I used 5 to make a medium sized batch) and boil them for an hour in salty water. Once the potatoes are boiled, remove them from the pot, but save the water (apparently this is key to good italian food)



Once they are boiled, use a peering knife to peal them and then set them aside to cool slightly. Then run them through a food mill, or potato ricer. I actually used my baby mill, that I picked up a few months ago with the anticipation of making X's baby food in the future.



Once you have milled the potatoes you want to move them to a bowl leaving them in there stringy state. This will help to keep you dumplings nice and light. Add salt and pepper to taste.



Next I added two egg yolks, a light cup of flour, and 1/2 cup ricotta cheese.



Now you want to pull the dough together using light fingers, you do not want to squeeze any way, just toss lightly to make sure everything combines



Next you are going to pull of small portions of the dough, and roll them out into a long snake. Be sure not to push on the dough to hard when rolling. The dough will feel light and spongy, that is good. You do not want dense gnocchi.



Once you have a long snake you are going to cut of ½ inch dumplings. I usually will cut things like this on a bias to make it look cooler. After you have cut your dumplings, press one side lightly with the back of a fork, to leave a little set of ridges to “grab” the sauce.



Once you have cut your dumplings, return them to the boiling reserved potato water. They will sink at first and you will know they are cooked through when the float.



While the gnocchi is cooking, in a second sauce pan, melt a stick of butter, and add 2 Table spoons garlic, and a few tablespoons of fresh chopped basil.



Once the gnocchi is cooked, remove them from the pot and add to the skillet with the herb butter mixture. Be gentle with the dumplings as you move them for the will be a little gummy and may begin to fall apart.



Lift the pan of the burner and swirl the dumplings to pick up a light browning. If you try to stir them they will fall apart and stick to each other. Once they are lightly browned, transfer them to a warmed dish.



Next, repeat the roll, cut, boil, sauté steps with remaining dough. Always finishing in the warmed pot. I generally place the pot back in a 200 degree oven between batches of dough to keep it warm.

Once you have cooked the pasta, add a half cup of the boiling potato/pasta water to the sauté pan to deglaze, or to loosen up the brown bits. Then add half a cup of parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted. Next add half a cup of light cream, stirring constantly, until the sauce pulls together.



Lastly, pour the sauce over the top of the Gnocchi and serve while its hot. To garnish you may add a sprig of basil, or some fresh parmesan cheese.

(Sorry, I do not have a picture of the finished product)

And there you have it. All in all it took about 2 hours including the potato boiling time, and most people who ate it pulled me aside to tell me that they thought it was really very good. One friend asked for the recipe but declined it once she realized it took more then five minutes to make.