Day 9 (blog post created on day 10)
Dish 8

So last night I made Gnocci, from Italy. This was definitely one of the more difficult things that I've made... like ever. I read up a bit on Gnocci before I actually made it, and everybody was saying how hard it was which kinda freaked me out. But what would be the fun of a blog like this if I didn't make some more challenging dishes! In the end, yes, it was challenging... but it was also really fun to make, and I think I ended up getting it down. After playing around with things and tweaking recipes it turned out pretty good. (And it is even better the day after!)


Ingredients:

*potatoes

*flour

*eggs (?)

*salt


*Wow... crazy simple ingredients, right! Anyhow, first off you have to cut your potatoes in half and boil them until they are fully cooked. (Don't peel them... you can do that later.) I don't know exactly how many potatoes I cooked... maybe like 12 medium sized ones. Which made more than enough for 6 people. Also, you should save your potato water.

*While I was waiting for my potatoes to boil I started on my sauce. I used half a red pepper, half an onion, basil, thyme, chives, and sage, lotttts of garlic, a little bit of ginger, some bay leaves, a dash of red wine, some water, a little bit of flour to thinken everything, and half a serano pepper. (The chives, thyme, and sage I was actually able to pick from our garden! I was so happy to find even a few herbs at this time of year!) And my brothers enjoyed daring each other to take a bite of the serano pepper... I put one teeny tiny piece on the edge of my lips and it burned so bad! ...And I thought that I could handle heat! The heat evened out, though, after it was cooked. I am still being careful not to rub my eyes or anything. :P

*When my potatoes were done, I peeled off the skins. (As soon as the potatoes were cool enough to touch!)

And here are my fully peeled potatoes. Cause, I mean full peeled potatoes are soooo interesting, right? and look at that heap of skins in the back round... :/

*Next you have to "fluff" your potatoes. You want them to be as hot as possible. and it is pretty easy to just kinda mash it up with as fork. You don't want to make it into mashed potatoes, though... just "fluffed" potatoes. 

This is what it should look like. Try to get as many lumps out as possible, though... It'll make your dough smoother. :)

*So apparently the most authentic way to do the next part is to NOT use eggs. However using eggs makes everything hold together better. So I split my potatoes into two groups; the first group I used eggs with, and the second I just used flour. That way I was able to get kinda warmed up, and figure out exactly how to work my dough, yet still be getting at least a little bit of super authentic gnocci. 

*If you decide to add eggs, only add about 1/2 or 1/4 of an egg to about 6 medium sized potatoes. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup flour on the top, and mix. (It is easiest to just do everything on a cutting board.) After it is all mixed in, add another 1/2 cup of flour... mix that all up again. Then if you need any more flour you can add a little bit more. (In 1tbsp increments.) I kneaded my dough until it was able to stick together without breaking. You want it to be pretty smooth... if you add too much flour, it will be too dense. (You want it to be as light as possible.) but if there is too little flour, it will be too sticky and hard to work with. So you will probably just need to play around with your dough to get it to the right consistency. 

*When your dough is workable, you need to roll it out. (It should be about 3/4 inch thick.) I rolled it in quite a bit of flour... that way it didn't stick to my cutting board after I cut it. 

*Cut into about 1/2inch "pillows."

*Use a fork to make ridges on the freshly cut piece of gnocci.

Sorry, this picture is not super close up... and I think that is a finger to the left... nano was being my photographer for the night. :)

Here is another photo taken by Nano that shows the indented gnocci a little bit better... 

*So for the next part, it is nice to have a helper... Nano helped me. So Nano put the potato water back on to boil. After the water was boiling, he would drop in about 20 pieces of gnocci at a time. As soon as they float up to the top, they are ready to be taken out with a slotted spoon. Nano kept saying that the finished gnocci were "loaded." While Nano was busy loading the potatoes, I continued rolling, cutting, and indenting the rest of the dough.

*Note: After I finished up the first half of my dough, I fluffed the rest of my potatoes, and made another batch of dough... this time without any egg. It definitely was harder to work with... but it wasn't too too bad... And I think that the eggless ones tasted better. So I'll definitely be doing it like that from the get-go next time! :)

*After repeating all those steps for about 1/2 an hour or so, you are finished! :)

How do you like my baby spoon...? We were all out of forks, and this is my favorite spoon to eat with... :)

*Enjoy!


Thanks for reading! :)