GNOCCHI

I remember the first time I had potato gnocchi.  It was many years ago at Totero’s, an Italian restaurant in my hometown. It was served steaming hot on a platter with a fresh marinara sauce - and I loved it! Now whenever I see “gnocchi” on a menu, that’s what I’ll order.

When we went to a food festival last weekend, one of the cooking demonstrations featured gnocchi!

Geo and I were there in the first row, not only to watch how the chef made it, but to get a little “hands-on” cooking experience.

Here are the ingredients that were used in the recipe:
1 ¾ pounds large scrubbed Yukon gold potatoes
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup salt (for the boiling water)

The chef cooked the potatoes, peeled them and put them through a potato ricer. Then he spread them out to cool.

Chef Tony using the ricer

Next he formed the potatoes into a mound and added the egg beaten with salt and pepper. He kneaded it all together, gradually adding about 1 ½ cups of the flour. When it formed into dough, he rolled it out for cutting into small pieces.  (The rest of the flour was used to keep the dough from getting too sticky while he worked with it.)

Geo tried rolling out the dough. He did very well!

The next step, after cutting, was to shape the pieces and put the lines on each one.

I tried a fork, then a special paddle, to make the lines. The chief said his mother and grandmother always did it "the old-fashioned way" with a fork.  I found that using the paddle was a lot easier.

At this point the gnocchi can be frozen or cooked. To finish, they go into the boiling salted water.  When they float to the top, give them an additional minute of cooking time, and then they’re done and ready to be served with marinara or pesto sauce.

The chef prepared both kinds of sauce!

Chef Tony chopping the garlic for the marinara

The gnocchi was delicious! A little bit of Italian heaven.

I am eager to try the recipe. All I need is a new potato ricer and, yes, one of those special paddles for the characteristic lines.

Keep posted for a gnocchi update!