Gnocchi -- One of the rewards of early training

When the girls were younger they always wanted to help in the kitchen.  As many of you know, that requires plenty of patience because every job takes twice as long with a little one helping.  And, I'll have to admit that too many times I didn't have the patience that I should have.  But, in spite of my impatience at times I am now reaping the benefits of all those years of allowing the girls to sit on the counter tops  stirring a pot of soup or playing in the flour as we made biscuits or cookies.  What a rewarding feeling to sit  down to a home-cooked meal in your own home and you haven't even been in the kitchen.

Yesterday was one of those days. Ashley spent many hours in the kitchen using up all those potatoes that were in our pantry to make gnocchi.  It's a recipe that I started making a couple of years ago and we all love. So, being the industrious woman that she's becoming, she decided to make as many recipes as she could to use up all the potatoes before they went bad. She made both white and sweet potato, which are both delicious, but the sweet potato are by far my favorite.  Sweet potato gnocchi with Alfredo sauce just cannot be beat.  The bonus was that  not only were we able to enjoy them last night, we will  have the opportunity to have them many more nights with little effort because of the many that she put up in the freezer.  She's a keeper!

Potato Gnocchi
Makes about 75 pieces

Cook:
1 1/2 lbs white or sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks

Knead in:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
1 egg
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp olive oil
pinch of fresh grated nutmeg

The recipe calls for you to boil the potatoes and then bake them in to oven to dry them out.  We've found that baking the potatoes, either in the microwave or the oven is much easier.

After cooking the potatoes and while they are still warm, push them through a mesh colander or use a potato ricer and rice onto a clean work surface.   You need to form the riced potatoes into a donut shape to cool. The texture should be mealy and dry not moist.  Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the cooled potatoes.  Then put the egg and oil in the donut hole so they don't run.

Fold the mixture into itself to combine.  Knead as little as possible.  Over working the dough will result in tough gnocchi.  Make a loaf out of the dough and cut into 5 slices. Roll each slice into a long rope, using additional flour if needed. You want the ropes to be approx the diameter of a nickel and then cut into 1/2" segments.

(As you can tell from the pictures, it will require a more flour for the sweet potato version as they are more fragile, but so worth it!)

If you have a gnocchi board this is where you would roll them on the board to give them the little grooves that have.  A fork will also work as you can run the gnocchi down the tines to create a similar look.

Next you boil the gnocchi in batches until they float, which takes about 2 minutes.  Toss them in olive oil to prevent them from sticking, spread over a  baking sheet in a single layer, cover and chill for up to two days.  We've never made it more than a few minutes at this point, until yesterday that is. :)  In the past we've eaten them right out of the water after they've been tossed in oil. 

You can eat gnocchi many different ways.  Our favorite is with Alfredo sauce, but we also like them plain or sauteed in some browned butter and a fresh herb.  Experiment, you'll love them too!