I was busy yesterday, laundry and what not. In between loads of laundry and dishes, I wanted to make something specific for dinner. I had been dreaming about this for a while. I made gnocchi.
Well obviously it didn't turn out pretty. I didn't take photos of me making it since it was just me at home, and I really didn't want to deal with potato and flour crusted camera. This was the finished frozen product,
This is what it looks like out of the bag,
I served it with a thyme and sage browned butter. Oh my it smelled yummy. Only problem... they look like caterpillars! Somehow when I was rolling the little pillows of potato and flour on my fork, they elongated. It was roll slightly harder and get caterpillars with the pattern, or light pressure and nothing but wasting time.
But oh, they were so yummy, light and fluffy. I tried to get Stinky to eat one. I told him it was a caterpillar and he truly believed me! Huh? Me? I hate bugs. They creep me out. I stopped leaf blowing the other day because I saw a big shiny black spider on the front porch! Yes it was big. It had no red pattern, shiny and about the size of an adult's thumb! It had a big round abdomen! I saw it turned the blower off, put it away, took a shower and tried to spend the rest of the day in bed after seeing that.
I made this based on a couple of recipes I found on the internet.
Gnocchi
2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and peeled, and poked within an inch of it's life
1 1/2c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
Bake potatoes in 400*F oven for 1 hour. (I cleaned the kitchen during this time)
Remove from oven and let cool at least 15 min (your fingers will thank you)
Split potatoes in half and scoop out insides to a large bowl
Using a masher, smoosh until fine small bits (I read one blog that suggested using a box grater. Well I don't have one, and was worried it wouldn't come out well in the Cuisinart grater)
Add egg and salt into bowl and mix well with wooden spoon.
Add flour 1/2c at a time, mixing well before each addition of flour (if you are lucky you might not need the full amount of flour, if you need more then you are in trouble. The less moisture in the baked potatoes the better)
Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface (hence the Tupperware pastry mat. Damn that ugly tile!)
Knead dough for a few minutes until you get a nice smooth ball, about 3-4 min.
Divide dough into several smaller balls, at least 6 balls
Roll each ball into a long thin rope (go for about 1/4 inch thick)
Using a knife or pastry scraper, spatula, whatever cut the ropes into 3/4 inch pieces.
Now the fun part. Take each little pillow of potato dough and roll it down the backside of a fork. (I used a little tool I picked up at BB&B. Many tined veggie holder. I don't know the name, it saves my fingers!) You should get a nice little indention. If you don't end up with caterpillars, email me and tell me what I did wrong!
Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze for 15 min. Then place in a freezer bag for storage.
To cook, boil salted water in a med pot. Place no more than 10 gnocchi at a time. Stir so they don't stick. They cook in about 3-4 min. When they float, give them another minute then use a slotted spoon to fish them out.
The sage and thyme butter I served them with was easy. I got the idea from Giada DeLaurentiis. The big boobed girl on Food Network. I used a small pot, and browned 1/2 stick of butter. When the butter had a nice light brown color and started to smell really yummy and nutty, I turned off the heat and threw in about a teaspoon of each herb in. That sat about 3-4 min while the gnocchi was cooking. I put the drained gnocchi in the pot swirled it around to coat and then plated it.
So dinner last night was skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, risotto with saffron, sauteed cabbage, and gnocchi. Hmmm, I think I'm pmsing, I've got the carb urges.
I made this to eat after the gnocchi. Yea, chicken and cheese taquitos in a flour tortilla. I don't like corn unless it's fresh made and thinner. The kinda green stuff is the chimichurri sauce, it's made with parsley or cilantro, red onions, paprika, garlic, oil, and red wine vinegar. It was pretty tasty with the skirt steak. Which happens to be left over dinner tonight, but it will be broccoli for the veggie with the risotto. I guess the gnocchi is all for me. Light lunch and all that.
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