We came, we saw, we rolled out some adorable fluffy potato pillows.
After mulling a gnocchi attempt for years, a few weekends ago I actually did it. With Kevin’s help of course. I consulted Yvette van Boven’s “Handmade” (thanks Appu!), and Lidia Bastianich in multiple forms. First, Bastianich and Martha Stewart during what I am guessing is the early 2000s, and the two together again in 2012. (It’s fascinating to see 1) what a total pro Bastianich is and 2) how she can fluidly repeat her gnocchi talking points almost verbatim even years later.) Then, the real whammy: Bastianich in text via Epicurious. It’s a fantastic, thorough recipe. Because gnocchi and anything dough-like remain uncharted territory for me, I appreciated the overabundance of detail. She has a step tucked in the middle of her recipe that says, “Wash and dry hands,” and I really liked that. And when she tells Martha that she’s looking for a consistency of dough similar to what a pint of ice cream looks like after you’ve gone in for a scoop, I got it immediately.
Armed with all that research, it was really straightforward. I listened to the Amazon reviewers and got this potato ricer. We rolled it all out on the kitchen table, made the Internet’s favorite tomato sauce to go along with the gnocchi, fried up a handful of sage leaves in butter for garnish (thus the shiny pool of liquid at the bottom of my plate), and sat down to eat on the side of the table that wasn’t covered in flour.
All in all, a success. Though Kevin was right. “That was a really complicated way to cook a potato,” he said. Then he went back for seconds.