Gnocchi

When Chris was at Costco a few weeks ago I asked him to pick up a bag of potatoes. My family was coming to town and I wanted a good size bag. I was thinking 10 lbs. Chris brought home a 20 lb bag. Ack!

I feel a little bit like Bubba Blue from Forrest Gump trying to figure out how to use up the bag… mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fried potatoes, potato casserole, potato soup, potato bread. I realized a few days ago they were starting to go bad and I needed to cook them up asap. So I peeled, boiled and mashed them, stored them in the fridge and waited for inspiration to hit. Last night I decided to make gnocchi.

Why have I not made gnocchi before? Tasty and ridiculously easy. After reviewing several recipes I just decided to wing it. I took a very Close Encounters style mountain of cold mashed potatoes (mine were already seasoned with salt and pepper), made a well in the center, threw in an egg, some flour and mixed it up, adding flour until it was no longer sticky. I portioned the dough into 6 parts, rolled little snakes and cut them into bite size pieces. On the first batch I rolled them against the tines of a fork to get the distinctive ridges, on the following batches I just said, “screw it” and threw them straight into boiling, salted water. As soon as they started to float I pulled them out and tossed them with a little butter, Parmesan cheese and Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset seasoning (I didn’t have any fresh herbs). Yum! Chris actually liked them so much he stole the bowl and even took the rest as leftovers to work today. That never happens. When I make them again I might try an actual sauce, maybe like Trader Joe’s Gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce.

Today, if I feel up to it, I might try to make potato rolls. We had a friend in Missouri who made amazing potato rolls, but since I am incapable of not killing yeast I’ve never been able to get the recipe to turn out. Wish me luck!

Filed under Food |