Arrgh! I tried making gnocchi for the first time this past weekend. The #1 lesson learned was, “If you are making something new for dinner, always make sure you have a backup plan.” In my case, the backup plan (which I did not have beforehand, BTW) was, “Run to the store for spaghetti to throw in the boiling water!”
A few months ago, my wife was diagnosed as being allergic to eggs, grasses (including wheat), and mold (including mushrooms). Also, we recently moved to an apartment closer to my work, and I get home at least 30 minutes before she does, so I have taken on the majority of the cooking. I told her that when after we moved, I would work on getting good, tasty recipes that would be OK for her to eat. For the most part, things have been good.
And then, an Italian woman at work held a mini-class on making gnocchi. I wasn’t able to attend the class, but she told me about the process, and I saw her demonstrate (without actually having the potatoes or flour) using her ricer and a fork. It sounded like it would be a welcome change from our standard meals, so I thought I would try it.
So, here is what I ran into. (And, yes, I realize I had bitten off more than I could chew. Actually, there was no chewing involved, at least of gnocchi!)
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I don’t have a potato ricer, and tried to find one at various stores (Wal-mart, Target, Bed-Bath-and-Beyond, Container Store, and Function Junction). All the ricers they had are really big. In fact, I don’t think they would fit in the tiny drawers in our apartment’s kitchen, so I kept looking. I know they make smaller ricers, because I saw my coworker’s ricer, and it was at least 25-30% smaller than the ricers I found in stores. (Turns out, she got hers in Italy.)
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Decided to rice the gnocchi using a cheese grater. Was not the best experience. I sincerely hope I was able to remove the tiny piece of my knuckle that went through the cheese grater.
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The recipe I was following said to let the potatoes cool for 20 minutes before trying to peel them. My wife said that it would be OK to peel them before boiling, so I did. My Italian friend told me that you have to boil the potatoes with the skin on, and then peel them immediately after the boil. She said, “If you don’t burn your fingers, you aren’t doing it right!” Hmmmmm.
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Finally got the potatoes riced/grated/mashed, and went to look at the flour requirements. That was when I noticed that the online recipe I was modifying did not specify an amount for the flour. It just said, “Add flour little by little …”. So, I had a big ball of potatoes and I used a little bit of flour. I used about 3-4 tablespoons of flour (more on this later), which, according to my friend, was way too little.
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I was using rice flour instead of wheat flour. I really have no idea how well rice flour can be substituted for wheat.
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I had absolutely no idea what type of consistency of potato/flour I was looking for. It turns out, my mixture was way too dry.
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I finally get the potato/flour morass to something I might be able to work with and cut and form a bunch of gnocchi. They don’t look anything like what I have seen in pictures.
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I drop one into the boiling water and wait for it to pop up to the top. I wait about a minute, but can’t see it. I gently reach in with my slotted spoon and try to pick it up, but can’t find it. Eventually, the steam clears and my glasses unfog enough for me to see that the dough has completely disintegrated.
So, I reached into the cupboard for spaghetti, only to find that we don’t have any.
Arrgh, indeed!
On the other hand, my bolognese sauce came out very, very good. That was a highlight, and, over spaghetti, was very tasty.
I talked with my friend today and she explained where I went wrong. (And she is really gracious, too, and didn’t start out with, “First, be born in Italy!”) I’m going to try again soon, but this time, I’m only going to do one potato and do it as practice, and not for a meal.