Gnocchi

My husband Dustin served his mission in Argentina. He's always talking about the amazing gnocchi he had there. I've made gnocchi in the past but it was always pre-packaged gnocchi and I served it with Ragu. So I got courageous and decided to make my gnocchi by hand, and make a sauce from scratch (see below).

Gnocchi

INGREDIENTS

* 2 potatoes
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 egg

That's it! That's all you need. Putting it all together is a little trickier though.



1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Peel potatoes and add to pot. Cook until tender but still firm. Drain, cool and mash with a potato masher. This didn't get my potatoes mashed enough, so I got out my mixer and mashed them even more.
Get them as finely mashed as you can. It's very important.
2. Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time. The actual amount used will vary every time, becuase not all potatoes are the same size, and the amount of water absorbed during the boiling will be different. Knead it all together until dough forms ball. It needs to dry but soft enough to roll it into snakes.
Cut snakes into small pieces. Press pieces with a floured fork, and make an indentation with your finger in the middle. This helps hold the pasta sauce.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Drop in gnocchi and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until gnocchi have risen to the top;

drain and serve.

Dustin's grade: B
Erin's grade: B

There were a couple problems I encountered with this. First, I don't think I mashed the potatoes enough. I should of beat them with my mixer for even longer than I did. Second, I didn't realize that the gnocchi would get bigger when I boiled them. Next time I will cut them even smaller. Third, it was a little bland. They were great with the sausage sauce I made (see below), but if you got a bite with more gnocchi than sauce...it was lacking a little. I don't know what I would add to them, but they definitely needed a little something extra.

Lastly- I made the mistake of making the gnocchi first. I should have waited until after the sauce was made. They sat out too long and I had to re-heat them in the microwave, which may have added to their blandness.