Homemade Gnocchi (10/10) Make this again!

I want to get a few recipes that I have recently made as well as some of my classics on the record so I don't forget them. My latest attempt at a difficult recipe was gnocci. It was my second attempt at gnocci with the first one being a complete train wreck that went straight to the trash can.

So armed with that knowledge I watched a few videos on the internet and looked through different recipes while Lindsay made a Puala Dean cream cheese pecan pie (as if that can be anything but amazing).

The first step was to boil the potatoes whole in salted water with the skins on for 25 minutes. Make sure that you add the potatoes to cold water and then turn the heat on to the water. If you place the potatoes in boiling water they might split and mess up your water concentration. Keeping the skins on helps control the moisture content. The general consensus is you don't want to potatoes too wet because you then need to use extra flour which will make them too dense and hard. Many of the recipes called for baking them but I didn't want to wait the extra time.

After the potatoes are cook all the way through next you peel them while they are still hot. The game hot potato is called that for a reason so watch out and make sure you use a kitchen towel to hold them. After they are all peeled next they go through the potato ricer or food mill. The recipes online said you can mash them but they won't turn out as good and make sure not to use a food processor.

Use the potato ricer and put the contents in a bowl. Stir in 1 large egg and stir it quickly so the hot potatoes don't cook the egg. Add salt to taste and then add two medium sized handfuls of flour. I wish I knew exactly how much flour to use but unfortunately you only want enough flour to make the gnocci sticky enough to handle and roll into a tube but not so much that it gets too dense. I got extremely lucky the last time that I made it. After you put your two medium sized handfuls of flour give the contents of the bowl a couple of whisks with the fork and then put the contents on a floured counter top. If you dough is still too wet then add a little more flour and kneed to work in. You want to keep the kneeding to a minimum so that you don't over work the dough and make it hard.

Next take a portion of the dough and roll it into a tube about the thickness of your thumb. You can add a fancy design with the tings of a fork but I didn't. Cut the gnocci into bite sizes pieces about a half inch long. After you finish with one tube put them in boiling water or if you are making extra you can freeze them at this point. If you are freezing them place them on a floured cookie sheet so they are separated and put them in the freezer. When they are frozen put them in a zip lock bag and put them directly in the boiling water when ready to cook. The gnocci are done about a minute or so after they start to float. Make sure not to put too many in the pot and skim them off with a slotted spoon when they are done. I let them rest in a collindar while I finished the rest of the gnocci.

You can put the gnocci over any sauce. This time I made a creole cream sauce which was almost too rich since it used an entire quart of cream! I won't even add it here since my heart probably should never eat that again. I want to try the gnocci with a browned butter and sage sauce or pesto although it will be good to know how it is with just a plain store bought pasta sauce.

Short Version:

Ingredients:

2 lbs whole brown potatoes (Can use as many as you want since you only need to adjust the amount of flour and maybe add another egg if you really go crazy)

1 large egg

flour

salt and pepper to taste

potato ricer or food mill

Directions:

1) Place the potatoes in large pot, salt with 3 teaspoons, bring water to boil and boil for 20-30 minutes until done.

2)Peal potatoes with paring knife and hold with towel to protect hands.

3)Pass the still hot potatoes through the ricers.

4)Place riced potatoes into bowl and add to generous pinches of salt. Add one egg and mix in quickly as to not cook the egg. Add two handfuls flour and give another few turns with a fork to mix in.

5)Place the dough on floured surface, add more flour if needed and kneed lightly to mix in flour. Dough should be just slightly sticky

6. Roll portion of dough into thumb size tube. Cut gnocchi into 1 inch pieces. Do this quickly, the dough should still be warm.

7. Add gnocchi to salted boiling water. After gnocchi floats allow another 30 seconds or so of boiling time and then skim off with a slotted spoon. Repeat rolling and cooling until all dough is used.

Reference: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-gnocchi