Holy Cr@p, I Made Gnocchi...!

I'm very proud of myself! Last week, I successfully made homemade potato gnocchi! It's especially an accomplishment considering I've never even made regular pasta homemade, much less potato pasta. There seems to be this mystique around gnocchi and I've always assumed it was difficult to make correctly. I had this idea in my head that unless you are an Italian grandmother, your gnocchi will turn out gummy or heavy or something. But as I found out after giving it a shot, it's actually not too hard to make - although it does take a little time.

After making the gnocchi, I made a simple but yummy herbed cream sauce to go with them.  I'm going to talk about the cream sauce recipe in my next post.  Today, I want to give the recipe for the gnocchi themselves. 

Gnocchi, by the way, can be made with all kinds of different ingredients, not just potato.  I've seen recipes for ricotta gnocchi or for gnocchi with vegetables in them, such as spinach or other greens.  I've even seen corn gnocchi which is very similar to polenta.  Maybe I'll try some of those versions someday. 

When making potato gnocchi, just like when making mashed potatoes, it's good to remember that the more the potatoes get worked, the more gluten forms.  As you know, gluten is what makes the difference, for instance, between cake and bread: it creates the structure.  It's why you have to knead bread dough and why you don't want to knead pie crust dough.  In pasta dough - which is what gnocchi dough is - you want to work it a little, just enough so that the dough holds together, but not too much.  Once the dough comes together, you're done.  There's no magic to it; you are just combining ingredients. 

There's actually no set-in-stone recipe for gnocchi because the amounts will vary based on how starchy the potatoes are or even how humid it is that day, but you can use the amounts below as a general guideline. 

Potato Gnocchi
1 pound russett potatoes
1 egg, beaten
about a cup of flour or more
salt and pepper to taste
2 T each parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, grated (optional)

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.  Boil the potatoes until very tender, peeling either before or after boiling.  Drain and rinse gently.  Allow to cool to room temp.  Mash the potatoes gently until just smooth; don't over-mash.  Add a little water or milk if needed.

Fold a half cup of flour, the egg, cheeses, and salt and pepper into the potatoes.  Add more flour a few spoonfuls at a time just until the dough is not too sticky.  Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead very gently, adding more flour if necessary, just until the dough comes together.  Do not overwork. 

Divide the dough into palm-sized sections; roll sections with your palms against the floured surface to make a long strand.  Cut the strand of dough into half-inch sections.  Roll on a gnocchi paddle or fork to create ridges, if desired.  To cook, boil the gnocchi in a large pot of salted water for a few minutes, until they float.  Scoop them out as they begin to float; sauce and serve.

Here's a tip: As you form the gnocchi, place them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and sprinkled with a little flour. Then when the gnocchi are formed you can cover them and store them in the fridge to cook later, or carry them to the stove to cook right away. You could also place the cookie sheet of gnocchi in the freezer, and when the gnocchi are frozen solid, transfer them to plastic bags and keep in the freezer for later use.

Next time I will talk about a cream sauce I made to go with my gnocchi.  Happy eating!

Compound Butter for Salmon

I've never liked most fish and seafood, but it's a moot point anyway, since I'm a vegetarian.  But, my husband love, love, loves fish, so we do occassionally buy it.  He doesn't know how to cook for the most part, so even though I don't eat the fish, I do usually end up cooking it.

We ended up with some salmon in our freezer because we bought some on sale and I knew we wouldn't use it up in time.  So, I portioned it and froze it.  The other day, I saw an idea on a cooking show for a simple way to cook the salmon if the skin is still on - which it was, as I left the skin on when I portioned it.  So, I pulled a salmon portion out of the freezer to let it thaw in the fridge for the next day.

The idea I saw was to make a compound butter which gets slathered on the skin of the salmon, and then the whole thing is baked.  As the butter melts it coats and flavors the salmon as well as crisping the skin.  Sounded like something Dan would like.  You all know what compound butter is - just butter mixed with whatever sounds good.  I love making herb butter.  That day I happened to make it with lemon basil, tarragon, and a little bit of mint and oregano, since those are the fresh herbs I currently have in my Aerogarden.  I also added a bit of spicy brown mustard and a dash of lemon juice, and of course salt and pepper.  It's easiest to make the compound butter when the butter is room temp, but then I let the butter chill in the fridge for a few minutes before using it on the salmon, so that it would be firm and cold when it went into the oven.  The salmon, on the other hand, I let sit out to get to room temp so it would cook evenly.

I spread a generous layer of the mustard-herb butter right onto the skin of the salmon (after scoring it so it wouldn't curl) and put just a tiny dollop of butter underneath the salmon to help keep it from sticking.  The salmon cooked for maybe 10 minutes or so - that depends on how done you like it.  The butter oozed all over and made the kitchen smell delicious.  Dan got home and dug in, and loved it.  He said the skin got crispy and the herb butter was great.  I didn't taste it at all but he said he loved it.  I'll keep that in my arsenal for cooking skin-on fish in the future.

Happy eating!

Goulash Potatoes

Recently I was looking for the same paprika pastes that my mom brings us when she has business in Hungary, and I instead ended up with one correct tube of paste and two jars of things that are not what I was looking for, but nonetheless delicious.  One is something called "Goulasch Creme" and the other is basically hot paprika peppers ground up.  The Goulasch Creme is made from mild paprika peppers with tomatos, onions, salt, and other seasonings and flavors.  It's delicious and I've incorporated it into numerous things. 

One thing I used it for recently is breakfast potatoes.  It turned out just delicious!  I love potatoes for breakfast or brunch and there are a million ways to make them.  This particular day I diced two potatoes and sauteed them with lots of butter.  Two small spoonfuls of the goulasch creme and one small spoonful of the ground hot paprika peppers coated the potatoes and helped the edges to carmelize as the potatoes cooked.  I also added pepper, salt, garlic, and ancho chiles. 

These potatoes were absolutley yummy and perfect.  If you happen to find yourself with paprika paste, goulasch creme, or anything similar, I would definitely give it a try on potatoes.  I ate them with sour cream but I'm sure they'd be great with ketchup or whatever other thing you like potatoes with. 

Happy eating!

Basil Lemonade

Yeah, I know, more lemons.  I have been on a bit of a lemon kick lately.  I guess it's cuz it's summer.  And also, we get them cheap from our beloved Asian market.  Here's what I did with them yesterday.

I was about to make a couple of glasses of fresh lemonade with the lemon I had leftover, and remembered that one of the herbs I have in my Aerogarden is lemon basil.  Regular basil - usually Genovese basil - could be described as somewhat lemony, but actual lemon basil varieties have a very distinct lemon scent and flavor.  I decided to make infused simple syrup with the lemon basil and with the lemon peel.

 Making a flavored simple syrup like this is very easy and I'm sure you already know how, but in case you want to hear about it, here's how: simply heat water and sugar (1 part water to .5-1 part sugar) in a stainless steel saucepan until just under boiling and shut off the heat.  Don't let it boil.  Stir gently if you need to help the sugar dissolve.  Add whatever flavorings you are using, cover, and let it steep for at least 15 minutes and up to an hour.  Strain with a fine mesh strainer and store in a tightly lidded container for up to a week in the fridge. 

For about a cup of syrup I used the peel from one lemon and about 2 tablespoons of lemon basil.  Bruising the basil a little before adding it helps infuse the flavor a little quicker.  I mixed the juice of one lemon and some water and ice with a few tablespoons of the lemon basil simple syrup and it was absolutely delicious.  The bonus is, I have plenty of the syrip leftover to do other silly things with all week!  Bring on the silliness.

Happy eating!