Gnocchi Three Way

My friend Erin always wants gnocchi for her birthday dinner, and for the past few years I have made it for her.

Above is the gnocchi appetizer. But first, how to make the gnocchi.

2 lb. russet potatoes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 t kosher salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Be sure you use russet potatoes, other types won't be as fluffy and your gnocchi might be heavy. You want the gnocchi to be light like little clouds. Cook the potatoes in salted water until done. Drain, and let cool until cool enough to handle. Peel the potatoes and put them through a ricer. Using a ricer is important in making them fluffy.  Here is a picture of the potatoes after being put through the ricer:



Let the potatoes cool to almost room temperature. Lightly flour your work surface. In a small bowl, mix the flour and the salt. Add the egg to the potatoes and mix briefly, then add the flour. Mix with your hands until the dough is moistened and starts to clump together, you don't want to mix too much though. Press the dough to the bottom of the bowl and once you have a fairly uniform mass, turn out on your floured surface. Knead for only 30 seconds or so just until the dough is soft, smooth, and a little sticky. Set the dough off on a floured area. Pinch off a piece about the size of a lemon and cover the remaining dough with a cloth. Roll the piece into a rope.

Then cut the rope into "little pillows."

At this point a lot of recipes say to roll the gnocchi on the tines of a fork to make ridges, but I don't do that. Place the gnocchi on a parchment lined pan that has been sprinkled with some flour. When the pan is full, sprinkle some flour over the gnocchi. I made two batches because I was feeding ten people. Here is the finished product:

Our appetizer course was Pan-Seared Gnocchi with Browned Butter and Sage.

For the gnocchi:

3/4 t of kosher salt, more as needed
1 recipe of gnocchi
3 T butter

For the sauce:

8 T unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
18 large fresh sage leaves
1 t of finely grated lemon zest, I usually use more
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the gnocchi in boiling, salted water. Make a funnel out of the parchment to help get the gnocchi into the water. Gently shake them out. Stir once to keep them from clumping. As they start to get done, they will float to the top of the water. Once all of them have floated up, let them cook one more minute.

In the meantime, heat 1 T of the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the butter has completely melted, use a skimmer or slotted spoon to transfer the cooked gnocchi to the skillet. The gnocchi should form a single layer in the skillet. Sprinkle with 1/4 t salt and occasionally shake the pan to turn the gnocchi until they are lightly browned. You can do this in steps if your skillet isn't big enough to hold them all in one layer. Remove the browned gnocchi to a plate.

Wipe the skillet clean, put back over medium-high heat and add the butter. When the butter has almost completely melted, add the sage leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally until the butter turns a light brown color and the sage leaves darken and crisp up. Remove from the heat and put the gnocchi back in the pan and toss to coat well. Sprinkle with the lemon zest and serve.

We had a pasta course of Gnocchi with Black Truffle Cream Sauce and with Italian Sausage and Leek Ragu.

For the cream sauce, I made a medium white sauce and tossed it with the cooked gnocchi, then tossed it with some Salsa Tartufata that I had received from Italy as a gift.

Before we served it we topped it with a little Black Truffle Oil.

Here is the recipe for the ragu:

28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage (about two links)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 large leek, white and light green parts only, trimmed, halved lengthwise and cut into half-moon slices, about 1 1/2 cups
2 t chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 t chopped fresh thyme
1 t chopped fresh marjoram
1 t minced garlic, about one medium clove
1/2 t kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Put the tomatoes in a food processor and pulse 4 or 5 times to crush (or just buy crushed tomatoes like I do). Heat 1 T of the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the casings from the sausage and break the sausage into pieces with your hands as you put it in the skillet. Cook until lightly browned and almost cooked through. Transfer the sausage to a plate.

Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and cook the leek, garlic, parsley, thyme, marjoram, and salt, stirring occasionally, until the leek is soft and fragrant. Add the tomatoes and sausage and stir well to combine. Bring to a vigorous simmer and then reduce the heat to medium low. Cover the pan with the lid ajar, and simmer for about 45 minutes. Before serving, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Before we served it, we added some grated Parmesan.

This was a collaborative dinner and friends brought other dishes. Here is the complete menu:

I'll post some more pictures and recipes tomorrow (or next week, or month, I try to keep the blog updated frequently, I really do.....)