Gnocchi - Page 2

Come to think of it, you're right! Add a little sugar and spice, and serve with a warm fruit sauce or compote. Sounds good.

Anyway, here's the Taro Gnocchi in Brown Butter recipe I mentioned before. It was from Patricia Yeo, exec chef at AZ in New York, and printed in the NY Times 11/22/00:

1# taros, scrubbed
1# russet potatoes, scrubbed
1/4 tsp. 5-spice powder
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
Salt to taste
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup flour, or more as needed
6 T unsalted butter

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place taros in oven like baking potatoes, and bake 45 minutes. Put potatoes in, and continue baking taros until soft, about 1 hour longer. Cool taros and potatoes, peel, and put through ricer with fine disk. Gently mix by hand in bowl but do not let mixture clump. Gently work in 5-spice powder, nutmeg, and a generous amount of salt.

2. Make a well in center of mixture. Add yolks. By hand, combine eggs with some taro mixture. Sprinkle 1/2 cup flour evenly over mixture. Work lightly by hand, adding more flour if needed to form a dough.

3. Transfer dough to lightly foured work surface, and lightly knead just until smooth. Cut off a quarter of dough, covering rest with kitchen towel. By hand, roll dough into long rope about 1 inch thick. With paring knife, cut dough into 1-inch pieces. Roll each piece off ridged gnocchi paddle or fork. Repeat with remaining dough.

4. Bring several quarts of salted water to a boil in a pot. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer, and add half the gnocchi. When they float to the top, remove with slotted spoon, and cool on sheet pan. Cook the remaining gnocchi. (Cooled gnocchi can be covered and refrigerated for up to a day.)

5. Melt 3 T butter in large skillet over high heat. Add half the gnocchi, and saute, shaking pan occasionally, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Transfer to warm serving platter with slotted spoon. Discard butter, and wipe pan clean. Repeat process with remaining butter and gnocchi. Serve immediately.

Yield: 8 servings
Time: 4 hours

She says in the accompanying article: "I often tuck five or six taro gnocchi under braised short ribs. They are good with squab or mushroom ragout. Any juicy meat or stew, especially one with Asian flavors, is a good excuse to make taro gnocchi."

BTW: when I worked at Maritime (just mentioned in the recommendations for a good bistro in NYC), we did regular potato gnocchi sauteed as in this recipe, and before taking them off the fire, threw in some julienne of smoked salmon, de-salted capers, and a good squirt of lemon juice. :D Don't look for it on the menu now, though -- it came from the opening chef who is no longer there. But it was a really good lunch dish!

Hi,

That's enough on potatoes. I learned to make gnocci using semolina. You make a thick pudding that is spread out thickly to cool. Cut into shapes and arrange, bake and sauce using crushed tomatoes and parmesan. Trouble is, that for some reason the *** thing seems to soften too much when baking. Any ideas where I'm going wrong?

Dave

To Davewarne in the UK: are you using semolina FLOUR perhaps, instead of a more coarsely ground semolina (sort of like what we call "farina" here)? When I used semolina flour that I had bought to make pasta, the gnocchi alla romana just melted into a soft goo. Tasty, but goo nonetheless. Maybe that's your problem, too.

If your blue gnocchi taste the same as the white variety, how about a simple butter and sage sauce; for something a little richer, make a Walnut-arugula pesto and melted Cambozola. Here's how:

Ingredients for Pesto
1/2 cup water
2 bunches arugula
2 large cloves of garlic
1 ounce red wine vinegar
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano or Pecorino
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup toasted walnuts (bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees)

For Finishing
1 Tablespoon heavy cream per person

Place the water in the bottom of a blender. De-stem arugula and place in blender (save some for garnish). Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and blend until smooth.

In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon pesto and 1 tablespoon heavy cream through per person. Add about 12 hot gnocchi (just made or re-heated) per person. Add a pinch of salt to taste. Toss the gnocchis in the pesto and place on plates with a thin slice of cambozola cheese on top. For a nice finish, garnish with a little arugula, walnut, and red and yellow pepper confetti.


;)

Thanks Suzanne,
You got me thinking.Maybe I've been using a pre-cooked, semolina product. I'll check it out.

Dave