Gnocchi

I've never eaten gnocchi outside of a restaurant, and the only time I had it I didn't particularly like it. It was sort of like overcooked dumplings that had gelled together when cooled, only to be reheated again. Pairing this with a cream sauce just made for a rather unappetizing plate. After a few successful attempts at making my own pasta (such as the Ravioli and Lasagna), I decided to give it a whirl and see if I should write it off for good.

The recipe seemed simple enough; basically combining mashed potatoes with flour. It was, in fact, that easy to prepare. This is perhaps in part due to really accurate guesswork of how much flour I would need, shaking the bag over the bowl without any method of measurement whatsoever. This ended up being the perfect amount once I fully incorporated it. I've seen a few people make gnocchi on the Food Network lately and they have some sort of technique of rolling it into little ear-shapes off of a knife or with their finger. After a few not-so successful attempts at emulating that, I just pinched my little sections into vague bowtie shapes and boiled them up.

Instead of making my typical Tomato Sauce, I used a slight variation on Pomarola, which is basically a Tuscan tomato sauce with sautéed vegetables. Instead of basil I added fresh sage, which I think worked better with the flavor of the potato than basil would have. The Gnocchi Pomarola was a big success. I kept expecting to be turned off by what were essentially bites of dough, but it had a perfect texture that was actually quite pleasant. I can easily see many more possibilities for the use of gnocchi now, but I'll have to refrain until the project is over. The only downside was that I hurried the sauce, which ended up being a little runnier than desired. This would've easily been remedied with a little bit more cooking time.