Gn&*chi!…at least it’s off my bucket list

Don’t ask me what possessed me…the god of stupidity visited me in a dream and said “Gee…wouldn’t it be fun to try making home made Gnocchi?” Actually, I had seen a recipe on 101 Cookbooks called “How to make Gnocchi like an Italian Grandmother”. My first clue to as to why this was a bad idea should have been that I am NOT an Italian Grandmother. In fact, I don’t think there’s a drop of Italian blood in the family anywhere. Anyway, the clincher was the super cool potato ricer I found on sale at Ming Wo. I’m a total sucker for a good kitchen gadget. If nothing else it makes yummy potatoes.

If you choose to make this recipe you may have to fiddle with the ingredients. I don’t have a kitchen scale and I suspect my idea of what a large russet potato is did not match the recipe because I’m pretty sure I had waaaay more potato than I needed. However, since I had already drizzled on the first egg and sprinkled the whole mess with the flour I had no choice but to try and make it work. My solution was to add another egg and a bit of extra flour until I got the dough into a “billowy” non-sticky consistency. Then I spent an hour rolling it all out, cutting it into perfect little pillows and attempting to press it into the tines of a fork without making a big mess…epic fail that bit. There was much cursing thus the name of my version of this recipe. I didn’t notice until later I had rolled them against the fork with cut side in (Nonas around the world are shaking their heads and tsk, tsking me I’m sure) but I wasn’t about to start all over again so tough.

While I was in the midst of all this my delightful 14 year old walked into the kitchen and said (and I quote) “Mom, can’t you just buy gnocchi?” – the boy’s a comedian and likes to live dangerously.

So…if you want to try it, go for it. I did some with just butter and parmesan and some with pesto. The result was “ok” and my children, who have been known to be kind to the mother on occasion, ate a plateful each. Having said that I think my son had it right…next time I’ll just buy it!

Ingredients:
2 large russet potatoes (I mean monster size)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 c white flour plus more for getting the consistency right
sea salt for boiling the potatoes and the finished gnocchi (provided you don’t give up in frustration)

Sauce of your choice. I think I overdid it on the pesto but this was a bit of a fail all around so no harm done.

The How To and the disclaimer (smart woman) are HERE.