Wednesday 11 April 2012

Homemade Ricotta Gnocchi, with love


My most damning vice is my curiosity. Obsession with knowing why things are the way they are. Trying to find explanations for how things work. And then I challenge myself to create it from scratch. This is also expressed in my cooking and baking. I want to make pasta, bread, pizza dough all by hand, even though it’s a thousand times easier to buy from the shop. Not just that, it’s also because I believe everything tastes better when it’s made with love, rather than on a conveyor belt.
And the enjoyment I get seeing the happiness that is so evident on people’s faces, as they taste my food. It’s pure, selfish pleasure.
I made hot cross buns. Actually, my Kitchenaid mixer did most of the hard labour. But nevertheless I made hot cross buns. I made 10 and I only ate 1. Because I underestimated how much boys eat. By boys, I meant one boy. Singular.
But Easter is over, and it’s therefore pointless to post a recipe for hot cross buns. I did however, also make gnocchi. I found if you use Ricotta in place of the potato, it reduces the amount of carbs, makes the gnocchi lighter and you don’t need to peel, cut, and boil potatoes. Technically you need to weight the ingredients etc. But I didn’t so the quantities below are only an estimate of what I actually used. I think the most important reference point is how the dough feels in your hand rather than the exact science.
I also made the sauce using canned cherry tomatoes to make it that extra bit special J
Ingredients:
For the gnocchi:
200g fresh ricotta
1 cup plain flour, preferably Italian 00 (more as needed)
2 egg yolks (freeze the whites to make meringues, macarons etc later on)
½ coarse salt such as Maldon
¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
For the sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large onion (or one small one), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
½ dried chilli flakes
1/3 cup vodka
1 can cherry tomatoes (regular canned tomatoes are also fine)
Handful of rocket
Handful of fresh basil
Extra parmesan for garnish
* Prawns, beef or other meats as you prefer. I’ve left mine vegetarian.
Method:
For the gnocchi:

Put all ingredients into a large bowl and mix with a fork until combined.
Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly and gently just until smooth. Do not over-knead or your gnocchi will be tough. The dough should feel moist and silky but not sticky. Incorporate more flour as needed, but again, too much flour also makes gnocchi tough.
Separate the dough into 3 portions and roll each portion into a long log 1 centimetre in diameter. Cut small pillows from the log, and using a fork dipped in flour, roll the pillows with the back of the fork.  
Remember that the gnocchi will swell when boiled so keep that in mind when deciding how big to cut your pillows.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add salt (like you do normally with pasta). Drop the gnocchi in. Gnocchi is cooked when it floats to the surface of the water.
They also freeze well uncooked.
For the sauce:
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onions and garlic with a little salt. Cook until fragrant and soft. Add dried basil and chilli.
Turn the heat up. Tip in the vodka (making sure your face is not directly over the saucepan. I won’t tell you why, you can just try it if you wish and tell me what happens J )
Cook until the alcohol is nearly evaporated.
Add canned tomatoes and half fill the empty can with water and add that too.
Bring to the boil and cook into the sauce is thick without the lid on. Approximately 20 minutes.
Add cooked, drained gnocchi.
Take the saucepan off heat. Wilt the rocket and basil in the residual heat. Grate over parmesan and serve 2 greedy people.
* If you wish to add meat to the sauce, add it after the vodka and before the cherry tomatoes. Make sure you brown the meat/mince sufficiently. If you want to add prawns, add this about 5 minutes before the sauce finishes cooking as prawns take a lot shorter to cook and overcooking will make it rubbery.

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