How many blogs have I started with the sentence, “So it’s
fall…”? Probably like 100. I feel like I say it all the time. Or spring. But of
course that’s because I’m Canadian, and that means our lives revolve around the
changing of the weather.
That being said, fall is probably my favourite season for
cooking. It means that you can turn on your oven without your house feeling
like the Seventh Circle of Hades, you actually feel like eating instead of just
wanting 5 cold showers a day, and you can finally justify stuffing your face
with delicious pasta, because that bikini can fuck off for eight months now.
It’s the perfect season, really.
Being an ambitious young adult, I once tried to make gnocchi
from scratch in my University Apartment, for my University Boyfriend, with my
University Budget and Attention Span (sadly the attention span issue persists
today). It was awful. I attempted such a thing because I knew that University
Boyfriend’s favourite pasta was gnocchi, and I thought to myself, “What better
way to charm a man than to make his favourite pasta from scratch?” I was given
added confidence by watching Giada Di Laurentiis do it on her cooking show,
which made making gnocchi look as easy as making Kraft Dinner. “Just scoop out
the potatoes,” she said, with all her teeth and baby pink nail polish
convincing me that I could just as easily scoop out a roasted potato or two and
whip it into perfectly fluffy balls of pasta, given added charisma by being
rolled on the back of a fork for a truly professional look. It was seductive,
and I imagine University Boyfriend’s impressed and touched face as he popped my
perfectly crafted gnocchi in his mouth.
What actually happened was that I began this project at 5:00
for a 6:00 dinner. Frantic, at 5:30, when my potatoes may as well be stones of
granite, they were still so hard, I decided that mashing them at their current
texture would be just fine. It was not fine. The dough was decidedly lumpy, I
was covered in flour and still in pyjamas for dinner, I had potato bits in my
hair for days, and I learned a very valuable lesson about why Italian men
treasure their Nonnas so much. To give
credit where credit is due, University Boyfriend did his absolute best
impression of himself being touched and impressed, and ate the pasta sauce like
a soup.
Today, as I reflected on that memory, I decided to redeem
myself. A fresh, fall day, I was ready for some flavours that reflected the
season. I’m also somewhat precariously employed at the moment, so I have quite
a lot of time on my hands. It felt like a day for self-improvement, and where
better to start than one’s gnocchi-making skills? These are the skills of
domestic goddesses and master chefs alike. These are the skills that build
one’s character. These are the skills that, while unlikely to get you a job
anywhere but the restaurant industry, require credit given on a résumé. Why?
Because the creation of these perfect little potato balls requires diligence,
attention to detail, and ambition. It is the activity of one succeeding in all
aspects of life. To make one’s own gnocchi is to prove to the world that you
are an adult and you can Make Anything Happen. 
Also, it’s way better than those weird rubber balls you buy
in the grocery store. If for no other reason, this is worth it because I
promise this is going to taste better. Let’s get started.
In “Bailey Makes Gnocchi: Volume 1”, my main mistake was not
cooking the potatoes long enough. This is crucial. Give your potatoes a full
hour in the oven at 425°.
You also will ideally own a potato ricer, and if not (like me), you at least
own a fine strainer that you can push the hot potato flesh through. (Use a
spoon to do this, unless you have asbestos-hands.)
Start with two yellow potatoes and a sweet potato. Bake them
on a rack for an hour at least, depending on how large they are. Once your
potatoes are cooked, let them cool just enough for you to be able to handle
them. Slice in half, and scoop the flesh out. Either rice it or press it
through a sieve into a bowl. To your now-smooth potato innards, add:
1 egg, beaten
- 2-3 tbsp of grated parmesan
- Salt and pepper to season
- 1 cup of flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Stir that up just until it’s mixed. As with all things that
receive mixing, over-mixing your dough will result in the Worst Kitchen
Disaster Ever- tough little balls of various baked goods. So just enough to
blend is fine.
Once you’ve formed dough, flour a surface that you’ll be
able to work on. It needs to be a fairly big space, because you’re about to do
some rolling. Cut the dough into four or five vertical slices. Take each hunk
and roll it between your hands and the work surface as though you’re making
Play-Doh snakes. Then, cut it into little rounds. Mine were about an inch long
and maybe half an inch thick? Just make them look like gnocchi. If you want to
get really fancy, like if you’re trying to convince a 22 year old artist you
are in fact wifey material he could give up his wanderlust for, roll them down
the back of a fork for the ridges.
Cook them in a large pot of salted, boiling water until they
float. Once they float, give them one extra minute and then scoop them out with
a strainer or slotted spoon.
Now- don’t get flustered, but you’re actually going to do
something else while the gnocchi cook. Have a sauté pan getting nice and hot.
As soon as you dump in your pasta to the pot, put about a quarter cup of butter
in the pan. Also add a few leaves of sage, which you can bruise with the back
of your knife to help them release flavour. Brown the butter, which means watch
it very carefully until the milk solids and the oily part start to turn brown.
Let it get golden, but don’t let it go much past that. The sage leaves will
crisp up beautifully as well.
When your gnocchi are plated, scoop out your brown butter
sauce onto the pasta. Top with salt, pepper, the sage leaves, and a really
great freshly shaved parmesan or reggiano. Very simple flavours, but it is an
amazingly delicious fall meal. Just save it for a day when you feel like being
in the kitchen!
Thank you to this recipe, which
gave some great tips on how to ensure the gnocchi are fluffy and delicious.
No comments:
Post a Comment