Gnocchi a Mano

OK - this is getting a little embarrassing. It is officially impossible for me to document the process of preparing and cooking food. Have I mentioned I have kids, 2 kids..under the age of 3. Is it just me.. am I really disorganized..? Please tell me it's not just me or send me the magic calendar that has a time slot for everything.
.
The good news is.... as I search for recipes similar to mine or moms - I have been finding the BEST food blogs. A couple of days ago I found, The Italian Dish, and introduced myself to Elaine. Wait til you see her blog. She makes cooking a pleasure... and you can practically taste the food, with her beautiful image gallery. So when I found her recipe for Gnocchi, I knew it would land here. Now I haven't officially made her version, but i will .. this week! She has Great Tips.

All photos below are from The Italian dish, and you can click HERE for the original post as well as instructional video.

Elaine's Tip: Bake the potato instead of boil it! Brilliant ! My mom would boil with skin on and peel and then you worry about consistency. I'll be showing off! Also, potato ricer a must. I have find me one of these.






Elaine's Tip: Potato scraper a must. For cutting, lifting gently and also clean up. Also, traditionally gnocchi have fork made ridges. They say - so the sauce sticks to it. Growing up, i was the fork lady Not today! No little ridges necessary. . According to Elaine, in Italy, no ridges.
..

Gnocchi

.

for a printable recipe, click here
.

2 medium baking potatoes, about 1.5 pounds total (doesn't have to be exact)

2 egg yolks

almost 2 cups flour (you may not use all the flour)

.

Bake potatoes in oven until tender. Let cool just until you can skin them, right before you make the gnocchi. The potato needs to be warm, or else the gnocchi will not turn out right - the flour and potato will not bind with the egg.

.

Scoop out potato flesh and put through ricer into a bowl. Add slightly beaten egg yolks. incorporate about 1.5 cups of the flour and mix until a dough is formed. Place on counter. Using some of the rest of the flour, knead lightly until you have a nice dough formed, one that is not too sticky but yet is not super firm. If you feel you have obtained the right texture for the dough, do not continue to use all the flour.

.

Cut the dough into three sections with a pastry scraper. Roll out the sections into cords and then, with the pastry scraper, cut the cords into one inch little gnocchi. Set gnocchi on a lightly floured towel until ready to use.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add 1/2 the gnocchi, and cover with lid. When the boil has returned you can remove lid and wait for gnocchi to float to top. The take them out with a spider, and place in serving dish. Repeat using remaining gnocchi.

You can serve with your favorite sauce. But in my house its always with a fresh tomato sauce !

Bon Appetito !