Cooksie
Well-known member
Here’s my first experiment making gnocchi and some things I learned.
First night’s dinner was braised beef short ribs and gnocchi with a pan gravy. I loved the gnocchi but wasn’t wild about that type of gravy with them.
Second night’s dinner was chicken cutlets and gnocchi with a shiitake mushroom and marsala sauce. I loved the sauce/gnocchi combination but wasn’t pleased with the texture of the second batch of gnocchi.
How I made the gnocchi:
2 russet potatoes, medium sized
1 egg
2 T chopped sundried tomatoes, oil packed
All-purpose flour
Cover the potatoes with water and gently boil until tender. You don’t want the skin on the potatoes to crack and make the potatoes too watery. Peel them and put them through a ricer. I don’t have a ricer, so I had to make-do. I cut the potatoes crosswise into fourths and used an egg slicer, slicing one way and then giving the potato a quarter turn and slicing again. It worked just fine.
Add the egg and the sundried tomatoes to the potatoes with about ½ cup flour. Mixing with your hands, continue to add flour a little at a time just until the dough is no longer sticky.
Divide the dough into three equal parts. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a long cylinder, about ¾” wide, then cut into pieces, and roll them over the tines of a fork (optional).
Working in batches, boil them in salted water until they float. Drain and serve.
What I learned:
I made the mistake of thinking that I could mix up the dough, make a partial batch of gnocchi, put the dough in the fridge, and make another batch of gnocchi the second night.
The first night’s batch came out great. The dough rolled out easily, and the gnocchi was easily rolled over the tines of a fork. The result was a light, fluffy little dumpling.
When I tried to use the dough the second night, I found that the potatoes had broken down and caused the dough to be too wet. I had to add a lot more flour just to get the dough to where I could handle it, so the second batch was a big pain and not nearly as light and fluffy as the first. Eeek—they also looked like they were thinking about cooking apart.
First batch:
Second batch--pitiful, pitiful--but I thought I would show you what I learned "not to do"--pic makes them look the size of chicken wings, but they weren't that big
:
We both liked them, and we’ll be making them again soon. I think they would be good with beef stew (cooked separately and then added to the bowl of stew).
First night’s dinner was braised beef short ribs and gnocchi with a pan gravy. I loved the gnocchi but wasn’t wild about that type of gravy with them.
Second night’s dinner was chicken cutlets and gnocchi with a shiitake mushroom and marsala sauce. I loved the sauce/gnocchi combination but wasn’t pleased with the texture of the second batch of gnocchi.
How I made the gnocchi:
2 russet potatoes, medium sized
1 egg
2 T chopped sundried tomatoes, oil packed
All-purpose flour
Cover the potatoes with water and gently boil until tender. You don’t want the skin on the potatoes to crack and make the potatoes too watery. Peel them and put them through a ricer. I don’t have a ricer, so I had to make-do. I cut the potatoes crosswise into fourths and used an egg slicer, slicing one way and then giving the potato a quarter turn and slicing again. It worked just fine.
Add the egg and the sundried tomatoes to the potatoes with about ½ cup flour. Mixing with your hands, continue to add flour a little at a time just until the dough is no longer sticky.
Divide the dough into three equal parts. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a long cylinder, about ¾” wide, then cut into pieces, and roll them over the tines of a fork (optional).
Working in batches, boil them in salted water until they float. Drain and serve.
What I learned:
I made the mistake of thinking that I could mix up the dough, make a partial batch of gnocchi, put the dough in the fridge, and make another batch of gnocchi the second night.
The first night’s batch came out great. The dough rolled out easily, and the gnocchi was easily rolled over the tines of a fork. The result was a light, fluffy little dumpling.
When I tried to use the dough the second night, I found that the potatoes had broken down and caused the dough to be too wet. I had to add a lot more flour just to get the dough to where I could handle it, so the second batch was a big pain and not nearly as light and fluffy as the first. Eeek—they also looked like they were thinking about cooking apart.
First batch:
Second batch--pitiful, pitiful--but I thought I would show you what I learned "not to do"--pic makes them look the size of chicken wings, but they weren't that big
:
We both liked them, and we’ll be making them again soon. I think they would be good with beef stew (cooked separately and then added to the bowl of stew).
. AllenOK, Keltin, and Vera inspired me to give them a try, and I'm sure glad that I did.