Nurturing my inner... tools of the trade

Have you ever had gnocchi?  If so, I bet you have one of two views.  1.) It was a light, pillowy, delightful dream.  Or  2.) It was akin to consuming grape-sized pouches of lead that sunk to the bottom of my stomach.  No one likes to be super full after two bites.  So I set out to make the airy and delicate kind.  And I'll show you how I did it.

Potato Gnocchi

2 lbs of russet potatoes, cooked and riced (more on this later)
1 1/4 - 1/2 cup flour (depending on the humidity)
Sprinkle of salt

Not a ton of ingredients, just a little work.  But fun work.  Like playing with clay in kindergarten.

Boil 2 lbs of russet potatoes until soft.  Put them into the pan whole in the skin so there is less absorption of water into the potato.  You may not think this is so important, but it is!  It's one of the tricks of good gnocchi.

30 - 40 minutes. Done when you can stick
a knife through them easily.

They will be easy to peel once they are cooked.  But very HOT!  So use a small towel to hold them and don't burn yourself.

No skins in this dish.

Now for a special tool.  It's called a ricer.  And what it does is finely extrude potatoes.  Keeping them light and airy.  Trick number two for making light gnocchi.  Just pop the cooked potato into the chamber, flip the handle over so the flat part fits in flush and use those biceps to squeeze the potato through!

In ya go, whole!

You might think you could just mash the potato with a fork, but it's not quite the same.  See how the potato is extruded?  It's light, airy and fine.  Pressed, not mashed.

Ribbons of potato!

When you're done, it almost looks like a bowl of noodles.

It's quick work. Really.

Add in the flour slowly and lightly mix with your hands.  (Just get in there!)  You don't want to over mix so the dough gets tough or add too much flour so it gets heavy.  Start with sprinkling in a cup, a bit at a time, then go from there.  If the dough seems a little sticky, add a little more flour.  That's the thing about making pasta.  I can give you a recipe, but you may have to tweak it depending on the weather.

Forms a soft ball of dough.

Next you're going to roll out the dough into logs.  About 1/2 inch in diameter.

See, just like art class.

With a sharp knife, cut into pieces about a half inch long.

Line 'em up!

And here we go!  Second special, yet not expensive, tool of the day.  A gnocchi board.  Yes, you can use a fork to make the marks, but this is more fun and makes them look so professional.

Imported from the homeland. (Through
the Internet.)

Put a piece of the pasta on the gnocchi board, take your thumb and press and roll it to the right.  It will create these lovely ridges that will be very useful later to hang on to the sauce.

Oh yeah, now that's some good ridges!

Flour a baking sheet and place them on top.  Very handmade looking in their uniqueness.  I had a few helpers, so we all had our different flair.  Toss into boiling water for just a couple/few minutes.  They are done when they float to the top.  Skim them off with a cooking spider if you have one.

Can you tell which ones are mine? Didn't think so.
I can't either.

A traditional way of serving gnocchi is with pesto.  I got mine at the Wegmans olive bar.  Best store bought pesto I have ever found.  And you can place it into small baggies and freeze for future use.  (That way I always have some on hand for making bruschetta or flavored cream sauce.)  I added some toasted pignoli nuts and cooked up some diced pancetta which I put on the side as an option.

Look at those beauties. Light version.

For variety's sake, we also made a simple bolognese sauce with garlic, sauteed beef and fresh basil.  Half went into that.  Toss lightly though.  Gnocchi are delicate and you don't want to hack them to pieces when you're stirring them with the sauce.

Hearty version with meat.

One friend brought a caprese salad, another steamed some asparagus.  That looks like a pretty European plate to me!

Some with each sauce. Liked them both!

To be honest, I thought making gnocchi would be harder.  Don't they make it look hard on TV?  (I don't even think my grandmothers made gnocchi.)  Now we know from the photos, it really isn't hard at all.  Having the right tools made all the difference.  You can get them off of Amazon if you don't have a trip to Italy planned any time soon.  The gnocchi were light, soft, tender and took on whatever we flavored them with.  I like that we did the comparison of different types of sauces because it showcased their versatility.  (And lack of lead like qualities!)

Since all this rolling, cutting and crafting made you think of your childhood art classes, I just know you can't wait to make them yourself!  Invite some friends over and have fun!