Gnocchi Galore
This past week I made homemade gnocchi. In fact, as I write this, my elbow still hurts from all the mixing.
Gnocchi, a pasta traditionally made from potato, is often called the Italian potato dumpling, as I’ve come to find out. But you can add different flavorings to the base like sun-dried tomato, spinach, ricotta cheese, and the list goes on. The sauce one serves gnocchi with can be diversified even further.
Although there are many different variations of gnocchi throughout Italian history and between the different regions of Italy, my gnocchi were simple. Potatoes and flour. A large bowl. And a good arm. That’s all I needed.
I began by removing the skin and boiling my regular, white, Yukon potatoes. I also baked several orange sweet potatoes. When the potatoes were ready, I added them into a bowl and using my hand mixer to rid my potato mixture of any lumps.
Then came the long and arduous task of incorporating the flour into the potatoes. I used plain white flour. Half cup after half cup was added to my potato mash through a sifter to ensure no clumps would form.
With each half cup of flour I added, the mixture was tougher to mix. Folding in the flour easily took me one hour of constant mixing. But soon enough, my dough was formed. I knew it was ready because the dough was no longer sticky. It is important to make sure the dough is fully formed in this was so that when it is cooked, the elements do not separate in the pot of boiling water.
I rolled the dough out on my cutting board into thick ropes and cut out each little gnoccho, that’s a singular gnocchi. The gnocchi was then ready to be cooked.
Five minutes into the boiling process and my gnocchi were ready for consumption! I paired the gnocchi with a garlicky red tomato sauce and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Gnocchi have a chewy, but not yet gummy texture, when cooked correctly. Often, gnocchi will have ridges to hold the sauce. I opted not to create these in my gnocchi and they turned out just fine, of course nothing like this aesthetically pleasing plating of artisan gnocchi.
All in all, it was a fun experience and a delicious meal.
