Sunday, January 16, 2011

Potato Gnocchi in Spinach Sauce

Gnocchi are Italian dumplings served with a sauce. I had tried making this before, but never turned out that good. I was telling this to my husband's cousin, and she suggested that the reason may be that I wasn't using the potato ricer - and guess what, I got this from her for Christmas along with this wonderful recipe!
Thanking her once again, I am dedicating this post to her.

Source:sfgate.com
It is important to cook the gnocchi immediately after making them. If they stand, they become sticky and difficult to work with. Begin heating your cooking water before you rice the potatoes. You should also have a skillet of sauce or melted butter ready so that you can transfer the cooked gnocchi directly to the skillet.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (preferably 2 large potatoes)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Several scrapings of freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
Approximately 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, or as needed
Olive oil
Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bake the potatoes until a knife pierces them easily, about 1 hour.
When the potatoes are almost done, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat for cooking the gnocchi.
Peel the potatoes while they are hot. Cut them into manageable chunks and pass them through a ricer directly onto a work surface. With a table fork, spread the potatoes out until they are about 1/2 inch thick and let them cool to room temperature.
It would be good to go through the images of making the gnocchi before you proceed to the next steps
Drizzle the beaten egg over the potatoes. Sprinkle with nutmeg and salt, then scatter 1 cup flour over the potatoes.
Working quickly and gently, use a bench scraper to reach underneath the ingredients and lightly toss them together, as if you were working a pie dough.
Continue fluffing the ingredients without kneading them, using the scraper and your free hand, until the mixture resembles very coarse crumbs.When you have made all 6 ropes, line them up 3 at a time and use the scraper to cut them crosswise into 3/4-inch-square nuggets. Flour the nuggets lightly and gently toss them with the flour to prevent sticking.
Now you are ready to shape the gnocchi. Hold a table fork, tines up, in one hand. With the other hand, pick up a gnocco with your thumb and index finger, grasping it on the cut sides. Place it on the tines of the fork as far from the end as possible. With your thumb, gently press the gnocco with a forward movement so that it curls slightly. One side will have the indentations from the tines; the other side will be slightly concave. Keep the gnocchi on the work surface, lightly floured, until you make them all.

Drizzle about 2 tablespoons olive oil into a large baking dish.Boil the gnocchi about 2 dozen at a time. After they float to the surface, count 20 seconds, then lift them out with a skimmer/strainer and transfer them to the oiled baking dish, turning to coat them with the oil. Continue until all the gnocchi are cooked and lightly oiled, adding more oil if needed, then transfer them to a skillet containing your sauce. Reheat them gently in the sauce and serve immediately with a spoon, not tongs.
Yields enough gnocchi for 6 servings

For the sauce I had used my own recipe as below:
Ingredients:
Tomato paste- 3tbsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Garlic- 2 cloves, chopped fine
Curry powder - 2 tsp
Spinach - 1 cup, chopped fine
Parsley - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Method:
Brown the butter in a pan; add garlic and the tomato paste. When the butter starts to separate  from the tomato paste, add curry powder and saute for 2 minutes. Add the spinach and parsley, and saute till they wilt. Add about half a cup (or  a little less) of water, salt and let it simmer till it thickens to the consistency of your liking.

Additional tip: When the Gnocchi is done, prior to transferring it into the oiled baking dish, I had added 1/4 teaspoon of chilli-flakes and 1/8 tsp of salt to the oil to add a little more zing to the Gnocchi.

Sending this to Veggie/Fruit of the month:Potato hosted by Divya and,event by Priya

3 comments:

  1. Never tasted this before, looks great! Nice recipe..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, that sounds SO tempting - love gnocchi and I can only imagine how succulent the spinach sauce was...First visit to your blog! Awesome :)

    ReplyDelete

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