Homemade Gnocchi

Perhaps I was drawn to making Gnocchi because of it's cool sounding name. I had only had gnocchi one time at a restaurant, and it was wonderfully delightful, and it does combine two really great ideas - potatoes and pasta! Plus, watching them make it on the Food Network, it looked like a walk in the park (then again, they make everything look easy on television...).

Well, I am happy to report that it really was not that difficult. With a few simple ingredients (like 3!), the only difficulty was the time it took to peel, cook, cool, and mash the potatoes (I should probably also invest in a potato masher to make the job easier...). Rolling them out and slicing them into little pieces was pretty easy and not too messy. 

Looking for a recipe (there are tons out there) turned out to be a bit of a challenge (first I had to learn to spell it right!). I settled on a simple one to use as a test run. It included potatoes, flour, and butter. Another I found included grated parmesan, so I threw a little of that in there, too (why not?). After cooked, I served with just a jar of spaghetti sauce and a few meatballs, and voila!

 Ingredients

8 potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool slightly, and peel. Mash potatoes with fork, masher or in ricer. Place in large bowl and make a well in the center. Put butter in well and allow to melt. When mashed potatoes have cooled, knead in enough of the flour to make a soft dough.
2. Divide dough into fist-sized portions. On a floured surface, roll each portion into a long rope. Cut the ropes into one-inch pieces. Roll each piece with a fork for a distinctive texture.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Drop in gnocchi and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until they float to the top; drain and serve with tomato sauce.

I might make a few changes the next time, like making them smaller to get more of a pasta texture, and less like mashed potatoes. Or adding different seasonings and serving with different sauces. But if you're looking for something different to add to your meal rotation, why not give it a try?