Gnocchi - It's 'Tater Pasta!

Welcome peeps and peepers! So I was making my wife a special birthday dinner, because I would like to stay married, and I decided it would be the perfect time to craft my first recipe for the blog! So here we go!

Today's recipe is part of a larger meal, I am simply showing you how to make gnocchi, which is a form of pasta. What you do with the gnocchi after is up to you. But if you stay tuned I will be posting a delicious recipe to use the gnocchi. There are a few different ways to make gnocchi, using various ingredients, however today I am going to show you the most common way which is potato gnocchi. It's literally an Italian potato pasta. My wife is Italian so this dish gains me serious brownie points for next time I want to take an extended weekend ski trip with the guys. Success.

So I always hate the food blogs that put the recipe all the way at the bottom so you have to scroll through all their pointless ramblings that do not in any way apply to your life, before you can read the recipe and get what you wanted. So naturally, I put the recipe at the bottom...because you guys care about what I have to say, I know you do. Seriously though, I'm kidding. Though you should read the rest of the post as I will be including some more detailed tips on how to get the gnocchi to turn out perfectly.

Ingredients:

4 Russet Potatoes

Heaped Spoon-ish of Ricotta Cheese

1 Cup-ish Flour

1-2 Eggs

Thyme

Salt/Pepper

So you have the ingredients, you can't be angry at me for rambling now. You will notice that some of the ingredients have some wiggle room in them, that is intentional. The most important part of cooking isn't blindly following a recipe, it's understanding your ingredients and how to combine them to create a full flavored, balanced dish...also I really wanted to say "spoon-ish", seriously say that word, it's fun. Let me give you an example of what I mean. When I did this batch of gnocchi, I initially added a single egg, however, as I started mixing the ingredients I quickly realized that what I was mixing was going to be far to dry and would never combine into a dough. So I beat another egg like into submission and added it to the mixture to get my desired texture. These are the things, the feel, that makes a good cook. Knowing when to add more seasoning to complete a dish, knowing when to raise the heat to sear or back it off to sweat out veggies. The technique to cooking is far more important than the recipe. With proper technique you could take a dog biscuit and a wet sock and create a flavorful dish in minutes. You get my point.

So...gnocchi. Sorry I got distracted. First thing you need is to heat the oven to 350 and throw your potatoes in. I washed mine and poked them with a fork because I'm mean. And to speed up the cooking process. Then throw them in the oven like you would a baked potato. mine were in for about 35 minutes but it will be different for everyone depending on the size of the potato. We are basically just looking for a soft interior on the potato so poke them with the tip of a knife, (wow I sound abusive), and when the knife slides in easily they are ready to rock. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop the middle out with a spoon making sure you don't get any skin in the bowl with the 'tater. Now at this point, typically a ricer would be used to get the desired consistency out of the potatoes. A ricer is basically just a giant garlic press that presses the potatoes into little strands. I'm not about that life and don't own a ricer, but I did have a great idea. I grabbed my colander and used the back of a spoon to push the potatoes through the holes of the colander to create the exact same texture as a ricer. As long as the potatoes are still hot they will go right through. It may take some time, but it does a great job. Seriously on this one: Don't mash the potatoes, it won't create the texture you want. You could potentially smash them up with a fork into a sort of mash and that would work too.

Once you have the potatoes riced up with whatever method you chose to use, add your flour and ricotta cheese to the mixture and season generously with salt and pepper as well. If you forget to do this now you don't really have another chance to season the mixture and it will be as bland as a flip flop, which coincidentally my puppy really enjoys eating my flip flops, so maybe it's not all that bad. And of course because I'm a troll I'm not going to tell you how much salt and pepper to include, I really do want you to get a feel for it and be confident in your cooking. A confident cook is a better cook. While we are on the topic of ricotta cheese, if you have any trouble finding it, it's not terribly difficult, but if you do. There is a place called Country Style Marketplace in Port Huron that sells fresh ricotta at their deli. They also sell a lot of other awesome products so be sure to check that place out. Maybe in the future I will do a post on the store.

Once we have combined all the dry ingredients, make a little well in the middle and drop the egg in. Once you add the egg begin mixing. This is the point where you will need to determine whether a single egg is enough for your mixture or not. Or maybe you may need to adjust your flour ratio. Just pay attention while you are mixing and be confident in what your eyes are telling you. If it looks too dry and lumpy after mixing it for a bit the you probably need a little more egg. If it's too wet then add some flour. The key is to react to what you are seeing and feeling while mixing and adjust from there. Don't worry, it comes easily with a little practice. Once the egg is combined and the mixture is starting to get a little too thick to mix with the spoon, add your thyme flowers, just the little flowers on the herb, not the stem, and mix them into the dough. At this point your mixture should look something like this.

You are now ready to flour your counter top, or dining room table in my case because it had more space, and work the dough from there. So basically to work the dough you simply flour the work surface and your hands and them knead the dough. You don't need to work this dough too much, in fact just a little bit will work. I probably worked it for about a minute. If you overwork it the texture with come out too dense, we want to leave room for the potato to expand as it cooks.

Once you have lightly worked the dough, cut the ball of dough in half and roll one half of the dough into a snake like this. Just work from the center and roll and lightly slide your hands across the dough and you will get this no problem. Oh and make sure to do this on your floured work space and flour your hands. If it starts getting too stick and you can't work it then add a little more flour. But don't over flour it, the surface should be a little bit sticky when you are done rolling.

Next you just flour your knife lightly so it won't stick and cut them into pieces. I went for larger pieces because my wife was coming home soon and the kitchen was a mess because I had my tripod propped up on two chairs and a coffee table to get the right angle for these shots. Basically, I was in a hurry. My roll should have been a bit thinner then it would have been just fine. But what you are looking for here is something that you could eat in a bite. Maybe a large bite, but the ones shown here are probably two-biters. Just make the roll a little thinner before you start cutting and you will be good.

At this point you are ready to do the easiest part of this whole operation, cooking the gnocchi. Gnocchi are extremely easy to cook because they have a built in timer to let you know when they are ready. Heat a pot of boiling water large enough to hold your gnocchi. Once it comes to a boil salt the water, always use salted water for pasta of veggies, I mean come on. Then drop the gnocchi into the boiling water. Once they are all in I give the pan a light rotation back and forth to insure they don't stick to the bottom, then sit back. In a matter of minutes, literally like 2-3 minutes, they will start floating to the top of the water. Once the float just give them about 15-30 seconds and then remove them. It's really that easy. At this point they are ready to eat, however if you wanted to take them to the next level, throw them in a really hot pan, lightly oiled, and sear them on both sides and toss a little butter in there to give them a little more flavor. This will give them a better texture with the exterior getting a little more firm and obviously adding more flavor to the gnocchi.

So that is gnocchi ladies and gentlemen, thanks for checking out my recipe and I can't wait until you try it because it really is my favorite pasta. I'm sure you will fall in love with these little balls of delicious potato pasta as well. Be sure to sub to the mailing list to get updates for when new recipes and reviews come out, including a recipe on how to use these gnocchi to create a delicious Shrimp and Asparagus Gnocchi in a Lemon White Wine Sauce!

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