AChildOfTheUniverse

Homemade gnocchi and pesto

I made this a few weeks ago and have been too busy practicing my procrasting skills to get it posted.  Let me start by saying I love gnocchi. And you might say, but Dana, the premade gnocchi you buy in the stores are so heavy and filling. And I would say to you sir, you are correct and how the hell did you get in here?

I first had homemade gnocchi in Venice many years ago in college, on the recommendation of a classmate who grew up eating them - and they were horrible. We were so desperate to eat something at the time that we unfortunately wandered into a touristy restaurant that cared much more about overcharging the unknowing American college girls than about the quality of their food. The gnocchi were overcooked to mushy and tasteless. Needless to say, I was not impressed, but I tried them again, on the same girl’s insistence that that was not typical gnocchi, and this time I loved them. Soft pillows of potato and ricotta, covered in a light tomato sauce. I’m drooling on myself just thinking about them.

I decided it was finally time to try them at home and was somewhat successful.

Since flour, water and my camera are a  poor combination, there aren’t that many pictures. I skipped the first steps of the boiling and mashing of the potatoes, which I did a few nights before.

Here is the potato, egg, flour, and salt mixture, cut into eight parts, ready for rolling.

My somewhat questionable and uneven rolling skills.

And the cut and pressed with a fork gnocchi, bathed in the afternoon light of my kitchen. I took many pictures of them as the light shifted and did actually say outloud when I was finished. “I’ve worked with better. . .but not many.” I try and fit in Ghostbusters II quotes wherever I can.

Here’s the finished product, with homemade pesto.

The final verdict? As Mike said, a good first attempt. Next time I’m going to do a few things differently. Although the recipe said that mashing the potatoes with a fork or potato masher was sufficient, I think a lot of the light texture comes from running them through a ricer, and there were chunks of potato in the gnocchi which I didn’t like, so I’m adding a ricer or food mill to my list of things to try and find at a thrift store or estate sale. Also, the recipe mentioned that you (I) could mash the potatoes and keep them overnight in the refrigerator. Well one night turned into three, if I remember correctly and I think starting with cold, dense, and somewhat lumpy (sounds delicious no?) potato mixture might not have been a winning combination. They were okay, but not great. The pesto was delicious and definitely helped uplift the dish from what the hell did I do, to hey the gnocchi are pretty good vehicles for getting pesto into my mouth.

So, not a complete disaster, but some things to improve on for next time.