La Platicona Habla: Tastes, Passions and Pursuits

Getting home late from work doesn't inspire me to cook some elaborate meal for dinner. Sometimes, even I look for shortcuts: frozen vegetables, frozen stuffed pastas, canned beans (aghast!). This penchant for cutting corners turned into a new gnocchi experiment. I've noticed that with my traditional gnocchi recipe, the little potato pillows are sort of mushy. Also, in the summertime, there is nothing worse than turning your oven on or boiling potatoes for 30 minutes. Besides - it's an energy drain. So in an effort to save time, energy, and my house from excruciating temperatures, I used the microwave. This may not be such a big deal for most people - the microwave is like a third appendage for many college students - but I hate the microwave and I almost never use the fancy built-in one in my kitchen. Last night was an exception, however.

Labels: gnocchi, pesto, pistachio, potato

I love making a batch of gnocchi when I have a little time during the evening to dedicate to that delicate recipe. As such, I decided to dress up my gnocchi with a couple of the onions laying around in my veg basket. The sauce is a simple combination of onions, garlic, fresh thyme, and broth, and makes another wonderful option to dress your gnocchi. This sauce is perfect for cloudy, rainy, and cool weather, but works just fine for a summer meal on the patio.

The picture unfortunately is very yellow, but I hope you get the idea and try this simple sauce out.

You will need:

- 1 small red onion, halved and sliced
- 1 small white or yellow onion, halved and sliced
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- handful of thyme, picked
- nutmeg (pinch)
- 2 c of broth, veg and chx
- chile piquin to taste
- handful of chopped parsley
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil

Step One: Saute the sliced onions, garlic, chile piquin, butter, and olive oil in a heavy bottom pot over medium-high heat with the lid on. Stir to ensure that the onions don't burn. Cook these onions for 7-10 minutes or until the onions appear slightly browned and are limp.

Step Two: Add the broth, thyme, and nutmeg. I also added a bayleaf here, but that isn't necessary for this recipe. Cover and cook for another 7 minutes. Add parsley towards the end of cooking time.

Ladle the gnocchi into the pot and coat well. Serve immediately into bowls, be sure to add broth as well. Voila! A delicious bowl of goodness.

Labels: gnocchi, herbs, onion, potato

I have recently attempted to make gnocchi and was surprised by my success, thanks to both Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batalli. Gnocchi is a homemade pasta that is mostly potato than flour. Although the ingredients are simple, the process is precise and must be strictly adhered to for a good texture. Special tools include a fork, and a potato "ricer" that resembles a lemon press with lots of little holes. I suggest buying a cheap five dollar ricer from Ross, Marshall's, or TJ Max in their kitchen sections. This dish is fun to make with another person, and with kids -- just be sure you have a very clean work surface.

You will need:
- 4 russet potatoes (about 3 lbs worth) washed and unpeeled;
- 1 tsp of salt;
- 1 large egg beaten;
- 2 c of flour;
- 1 large bowl filled with ice water;
- 1/2 c of canola or olive oil.

This yields about 4-6 servings.

Step One: Place the potatoes, skin and all, into a large stock pot with plenty of water (should cover potatoes) and a tsp of salt. Boil these for about 45 minutes. Drain. Using a towel to hold the potato in your hand, use a knife to remove the skins and set the peeled potatoes to the side.

Step Two: Cut the potatoes in half and place the half into the ricer, squeezing hard and making a pile of riced potatoes on your counter or extra large wooden cutting board. Repeat until all potatoes are riced. (see picture below)

Step Three: Make a well (hole) in the center of your pile of riced potatoes and pour in the beaten egg and salt (you may add 1/2 tsp of nutmeg too). Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of flour on top of your potatoes. Using your hands, gently mix the ingredients together, adding more flour only if the mixture is too sticky. The dough should be kneaded, but don't over do it! This pasta is supposed to be light and fluffy and over-mixing and over-kneading means tough yucky pasta.

Step Four: Once the dough is kneaded into a pretty little ball, cut that ball into 6 sections. Take each section, roll it out into a 1 inch thick "snake" and cut this up into 1 inch long pieces. Take each piece and roll it against the back of a fork with your thumb so the gnocchi takes the shape shown in the picture above. Repeat until the dough is all rolled out and shaped.

Step Five: In a stock pot of boiling water with 1 tsp of salt, place 2 handfulls of gnocchi in and wait for one minute or so until it floats to the top. Remove the floating gnocchi with a slotted spoon and place immediately into the ice bath. Repeat until you have cooked all the gnocchi this way. (it doesn't require much time to cook because the potatoes are already cooked! And DO NOT put all the gnocchi you just made into the pot at once because the water temp will cool and you will have a pile of mush in that pot).

Step Six: Drain the iced gnocchi; place into a large bowl with your oil and toss. You can refridgerate gnocchi up to 48 hours this way until you are ready to eat it. I will post the fantastic artichoke and lemon pesto I made for this gnocchi next time. You can try a simply mix of olive oil and basil, or butter cooked with garlic, sage, and salt in the meantime.

Labels: gnocchi, pasta, potato