The thing about trying to recreate your favorite restaurant dish is that you can be fairly sure, in your heart-of-hearts, that what you make will never measure up to the original. Knowing that, I couldn’t help--with AC's help--to try and tackle potato gnocchi anyway.
Over the years I’ve gathered quite a collection of gnocchi recipes so I had lots to choose from. I considered Martha Stewart, Cuisine at Home, Betty Crocker and a few others whose origins are unknown. In the end I went with Cuisine at Home partially because of its name—No Fear Gnocchi—and because it had lots of how-to photos and detailed method instructions. Overall, all the recipes were almost identical when it came to ingredients—just the techniques and serving sizes were different. I like to tape the recipe I’m making up on my kitchen cabinets so I can easily consult them and keep them out of the way.
The article that accompanies the recipe in Cuisine at Home says that russet potatoes are the “only way to go” when it comes to gnocchi. I had to rely on the scale at the grocery store to get 1 ½ pounds worth, which turned out to be two potatoes. My sous chef for the day, AC, told me that baking potatoes and russets are the same thing. She also insisted that under no circumstances was I to use the grated Parmesan in the green can and persuaded me to buy a chunk of fancy Parmesan cheese and grate it myself.
Once the potatoes were done boiling, I spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and dried them in the oven as the recipe instructed; then I put them through a potato ricer. (AC thinks it’s hilarious that I have all these fancy kitchen gadgets and not the need—or skills in some cases—to use them.)
The how-to photos and captions in the magazine instructed me to form the riced potatoes into a donut shape to cool. Then I sprinkled the dry ingredients over the cooled potatoes and put the egg and oil in the donut hole so they didn’t run together.
Both the recipe directions and AC warned me not to overwork the dough so I kneaded it as little as possible. The ingredients were just barely mixed together. AC said that was okay. I carefully shaped it into a loaf and cut it into six equal pieces (somehow I wound up with six instead of five—oh well). I rolled each piece into a log, cut the log into little squares and used a fork (I do not own a gnocchi board) to give them texture. Keep in mind my square looked nothing like the perfectly uniform squares pictured in the magazine.
Since we were planning to make the gnocchi right away, I didn't boil, shock, drain and then toss with olive oil like the recipe instructed. Instead, I lined a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (I ran out of parchment paper) and filled three cookie sheets with the gnocchi.
Then I got a brought a pot of water to boil and plopped the gnocchi in, in batches. It was hard to get them in the pot without getting burned by the water that plopped out. Once the gnocchi rose to the top, I scooped them out and put them in a colander as AC started on the sauce--the topic of Friday's post. Stay tuned......
No Fear Gnocchi
From Cuisine at Home, Issue No. 55 (February 2006)
COOK:
1 ½ lbs. russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 ½-inch chunks
KNEAD IN:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
¼ cup Parmesan, grated
1 egg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Pinch grated fresh nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350º; line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cook potatoes in simmering water until fork-tender, 15-20 minutes. Drain, spread on the prepared baking sheet, and dry them in the oven until they’re chalky-looking, about 8 minutes.
Push hot potatoes through a mesh colander onto a clean work surface. Cool to room temperature.
Knead remaining ingredients into potatoes to make a soft dough, being careful not to overwork it.
Cut dough into 5 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log, dusting with flour as necessary. Cut logs into ½” squares, then shape each square on a gnocchi board or fork.
Boil gnocchi in batches until they float, about 2 minutes. Shock them in ice water and drain, then toss with olive oil to coat. Spread gnocchi in a single later on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with plastic and chill up to 48 hours or freeze.