- it was very stodgy,
- shouldn't be ordered as a main. Entree is just nice (for me), and
- should always be shared!
Even though Susan's plated morsel looked very tasty, I didn’t plan to make any….or so I thought!
As I was coming back from lunch, I stopped by the organic vegetable seller stall and without thinking, I picked up and paid for a bag of sweet potatoes. I think subconsciously I wanted to give gnocchi another go, after all nothing beats homemade fresh pasta right?
The other main ingredient required is ricotta cheese. Now only certain selected supermarkets stock these. Yes, over here ricotta is not a common product easily found in most supermarkets and you can almost rule out getting fresh ricotta! And so you can imagine how much it would cost just to get a tub! I was pretty shocked too but since I had totally psyched myself on making the gnocchi, I sucked it in and paid almost RM30 for 250g! Disgustingly shocking price isn’t it??? Wouldn't recommend it especially in light of the current financial worldwide crisis.
I did contemplate less costly alternatives of substituting with sour cream or yogurt but since the recipe (and also various others found in the internet) swear by it, how could I refuse? Perhaps someone can share whether they have used other substitutes and got good results?
(Updated - for homemade ricotta, click here. Looks 'simple' but have yet to test it. Hm, wondering whether the same results can be achieved in a humid country? Worried it may go bad as need to hang ricotta out to dry overnight.)
To save some time, I nuked or MW the potatoes for a few minutes before baking them in the oven. The advantage of baking the potatoes cut in half is 2 fold, firstly it cooks faster and secondly it helps to dry out the moisture a little from the potatoes.
The dough came together very nicely and I didn't need additional flour while rolling them out or shaping them! Which is a good thing for a 'light' gnocchi.
Got Master Prince to help me. In fact he really enjoyed rolling the dough into 'snakes' and also 'flattening' them into gnocchi!!
I wasn't sure how original gnocchi are rolled off the fork so here's my adaptation after surfing the net on what to do! After doing a few, I found it was easier rolling them backwards to the stem of the fork rather than forwards. I felt it left a nicer and deeper impression on the gnocchi.
Making gnocchi is a process - I created quite an assembly line to get over the tedious process. Cutting, shaping, boiling and finally setting them aside after they are cooked. Of course, in any production line, it'll be less stressful with extra pair hands so grab any volunteer you can - willing or unwilling!! Ha ha
As for the sauce, I didn’t have any sage so I substituted with some sweet basil. And also used maple syrup and a few dashes of cinnamon. I adapted the recipe here.
Serve it with some parmesan (if required) and a few turns on the pepper mill.Objectively, the gnocchi was nice - soft and pillowy. However I much prefer the longer cousin savoury versions. But as a change, why not. Confession time - I really enjoyed the cold leftovers more than the warm version, funny tastebuds huh? ;p
