Return to Gnocchi: The Continuing Search for Pillowy Dumplings

Those of you who have been following my efforts to make gnocchi know that my last attempt at reaching gnocchi nirvana was more like gnocchi meets scrambled eggs. Not that I don't like something that resembles a cheese omelette but not exactly what I had in mind. So, here we go again, this time with pictures to document the attempt.

And this time, we got it right! Soft, melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi!

Microwave 1/2 gallon of whole milk (not ultra-pasteurized!) for 15 minutes.
If there is evidence of boiling, remove skin from the top. It will easily stick to a spoon. Don't try to get it all.
Pour in 1/3 cup vinegar, in this case cider vinegar. Note, the color of the vinegar will affect the color of the curds. It will start to curdle. These pictures are after about 15 minutes.
Let it sit to curdle. If after an hour or so, the whey is still white like milk, give it a stir to redistribute the vinegar and another 3 minutes in the microwave to bring it back up to temperature. Do not microwave too long at this stage or your cheese may become rubbery.
It is ready for the next step when it is cool enough to handle and the whey looks like chicken broth.
For draining, I use a screen strainer in a collander in a bowl. I don't do this directly over the sink because I don't want to risk losing the cheese.
Periodically tilt the bowl over the sink to get rid of the whey. Save the whey if you have a use for it.
Tilt the strainer, holding the cheese with a spoon to get all the separated whey out. In the past, I used muslin instead of the screen strainer and wrung the ball of cheese out. This made it too dry and rubbery. Your cheese should resemble ricotta.
Transfer the cheese to a dry bowl and stir about 1/2 tsp. salt and 1 egg.
Sift and stir in 1 cup of flour about one quarter at a time.
The dough you will end up with is quite sticky.
To form the gnocchi, use two teaspoons, a bowl of sifted flour, and something to make grooves in the gnocchi. I use the back of a tile. Even poking your thumb in a gnocchi will give it someplace for sauce to cling so don't let shaping them intimidate you.
Drop dough by spoonful into the flour and sweep flour on top of it. Then shake off the excess flour and roll into a rough ball. This picture shows, among other things how hard it is to take a picture with one hand!
Flatten the resulting ball on your grooved surface. Then lift it on one edge to roll it off the grooves.
Gently pick up the gnocchi by its ends and they will flatten as you transfer the gnocchi to a lined cookie sheet.
When the gnocchi are frozen they can be moved to plastic bags or other storage container. Keep the gnocchi frozen until you are ready to cook them.
To cook the gnocchi, place them in gently boiling water and when they float move them to the sauce of your choice. Allow the gnocchi to continue to cook in the sauce for another 3-5 minutes. Here, the gnocchi are shown in homemade pesto with mushrooms, summer squash, a minced shallot, and flat-leaf parsley.

Chasing Fluffy Gnocchi

Each batch of gnocchi comes out looking a bit better and they really don't take very long to make, even making cheese from scratch. And with each batch of cheese I make, even that becomes easier.

Oh, drat. We just ate them. They disintegrated a bit in the water and then they felt grainy like an overcooked scrambled egg. Blech.

Today's variation on the hunt for the fluffiest gnocchi tries to use absolutely as little flour as possible, partly because I am going to share these with a friend who is a carb phobe and partly because I'm guessing that the less flour in them the fluffier they will be.

I use the grooved back of a ceramic tile for getting the grooves on the gnocchi. My father bought the tiles many years ago as pizza stones in the oven. Anything with grooves will do.

So, from start to finish, here 'tis.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon skim milk (not ultra-pasteurized)
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 egg (and a 2nd egg if needed)
• 1 oz. finely grated parmesan
• salt, white pepper & freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup flour (most of this will be discarded at end)
  

Procedures:

1. Pour the milk into a large microwaveable container
2. Microwave the milk on high for about 15 minutes until it is very hot but not boiling over
3. Pour the vinegar into the milk and let sit 30 minutes
4. Reheat in the microwave on high for another 5 minutes
5. Let sit another 30 minutes or until cool enough to handle -- at this point the milk should have separated into curds and whey
6. Pour the mixture into a colander lined with muslin or a few layers of cheese cloth and let drain.
7. Wring the cheese in the cloth until it is quite dry.
8. Whir the homemade cheese, parmesan, egg and seasonings in the food processor. If the mixture remains in crumbs, add a second egg. The mixture should be stiff enough to leave the sides of the blender and form a lump.
9. Sift the flour into a small bowl for rolling the gnocchi.
10. Spoon up enough dough to make a 3/4 inch ball and drop it into the flour.
11. Roll the dough in the palms of your hand to make a ball, shaking off the excess flour.
12. Place the ball of dough on your grooved instrument (tile, fork, etc.) and flatten the ball a bit.
13. The gnoccho should now be shaped somewhat like a raw cookie that has been flatted with a fork, flat side up. Pick up one edge of it and roll it on itself.
14. Place each gnoccho on a lined cookie sheet and freeze.
15. When the gnocchi are completely frozen, move them to a plastic bag.

To cook the gnocchi, boil them in plenty of water just until they float. Then place them in the sauce of your choice and let them finish cooking a little in the sauce.

This batch made 28 medium large gnocchi. If you use low fat or whole milk you will have more cheese and therefore more gnocchi.

I will let you know when we eat this if we've finally accomplished the ethereally light gnocchi I've read about but never really experienced, truth be told ...

In a word, NO.

Chinese Dumplings - Jiǎozi - Gyōza

A friend across the table had some pretty good looking potstickers on her plate the other day and this reminded me that we haven't had any Chinese dumplings in the freezer in a good long time. I had 1/2 a cabbage in the fridge and was headed to the grocery store anyway, so time to make gyoza!

Two fellow grad students, one from Taiwan, the other from Bangkok, taught me to make dumplings many years ago. We used to wait for very cold days so we could fill the back of a pick-up with trays of fresh dumplings to freeze. Like many filled dumplings from around the world, the filling is flexible. Lots of veggies not only add flavor but stretch the meat. We eat too much meat around here so this is not a bad idea.

Ingredients (amounts are flexible):

• 1/2 head of green cabbage, or a full head of nappa or bok choy
• 1 bunch green onions
• 1 bunch cilantro
  
• a 2-inch knob of ginger root
• 4-6 cloves of garlic
• 1 pound ground pork (or chicken or turkey)
• 2-4 Tbl. soy sauce
• About 100 wonton skins (usually found in the vegetable case in the grocery store)

You can use fewer wonton skins and make meatballs of part of the mixture by rolling balls of it in bread crumbs and frying.

Procedure:

1. Mince cabbage, green onions, cilantro, ginger root and garlic in batches in the food processor and dump in a large bowl.
2. Mix the vegetable mix, ground meat and soy sauce with your hands until well blended.
3. Place a spoonful of filling on each wonton skin and fold to seal.
4. Freeze flat on lined cookie sheets.

Note that I am not going to explain in detail how to fold these. That's because I am terrible at it. I dip my fingers in a bowl of water and wet two adjacent edges of the wonton. Then I fold it in half to make a triangle, smushing the air out and sealing the edges as best I can. Not a pretty sight. But the shape does not affect the taste so no need to shy from making them.

You can use a variety of different methods to cook these. Steam them. Boil them in chicken broth for wonton soup. Steam and then saute for pot stickers. If you are feeling very naughty, deep fry them.

Merging Quark & Gnocchi in Search of the Ultimate Melt-in-Your-Mouth Dumplings

Now, tell the truth. How many of us have ever had gnocchi that truly melted in our mouths? I read of gnocchi that are "cloud-like pillows" and compare that vision to my tasty little dumplings. They're good ... but "cloud-like?" Hmmph. So I've been experimenting and I'm getting closer to gnocchi that truly melt in my mouth.

The closest I have come so far to "melt in my mouth" was a batch made with a balsamic vinegar/skim milk quark. I used the microwave to make the quark and rung it out until very dry. Then I used very little flour. They look like uncooked ginger snaps but they taste wonderful and do indeed melt in your mouth!

The next experiment was with whole milk quark soured with half rice vinegar and half lemon juice. Again, I used very little flour. The result is ever so slightly rubbery but not at all heavy.

So, the next gnocchi experiment will be with skim milk and white wine vinegar. I'm just guessing that it is the fat content in the milk that is causing the rubberiness.

Each batch took 1/2 gallon milk, about 2/3 cup acid, one egg, scant 1 cup sifted flour stirred in, and flour for dropping the pieces in to roll.

Since the dough is very wet, I don't use the "roll-a-rope" method. Instead, I drop the dough by the spoonful into the bowl of flour. Then I pick up the dollop and roll it into a ball. Finally, I shape it and place it on a lined cookie sheet to freeze.

Gnocchi is Quick to Make in Small Amounts

As I've continued trolling the web for gnocchi info, I've seen lots of recipes that talk about setting aside hours for making them. And yes, if you intend to stock your freezer with many meals worth it can take a good while, just like making lots of Christmas cookies. But if you keep the batch small, it is suitably quick for an after-work supper. Starting with just one large potato in the microwave is the trick. I started at 5 and we had sweet potato gnocchi sauced and on the plate in a leisurely hour and a half -- including sitting, cooling and cooking times.

Ingredients for the gnocchi:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and sliced
• 1 egg
• flour in about equal proportion to the amount of sweet potato when mashed
• Salt, white pepper, and nutmeg (freshly ground)

Procedure (I do the first five steps all in the same bowl):

1. Place the peeled and sliced sweet potato in a covered dish and microwave until mashable (approximately 6-8 minutes). Do not add water.
   
2. Gently mash the sweet potatoes with a fork or hand masher. Use a potato ricer if you have one.
3. Let the mashed potato cool enough so that it will not cook the egg (20 minutes or so).
4. Add the egg, salt pepper and nutmeg and mix well with a fork. DO NOT use an electric mixer or a blender. The more you "beat up" the potatoes, the more flour they will need to form gnocchi.
5. Using a sifter, start adding flour to the potato about 1/2 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Use as little flour as possible to make a sticky ball that you can remove from the bowl.
6. Divide the ball of dough in four and chill for 20-30 minutes to stiffen a bit.
7. Remove a quarter of the dough and, using as little flour as possible, make 3/4 inch balls and shape each of these as desired. I roll them across the grooves on the bottom of an oven tile I use for cooking pizza. I've been known to "stamp" them with the tenderizing end of a meat hammer. Use your imagination. A simple thumb dent works, too.
   
8. Place the gnocchi on a plate or cookie sheet leaving room between them. Either cook immediately or freeze.

Sweet potato gnocchi have a wonderfully mild taste with a hint of sweetness. One large sweet potato resulted in 50 good-sized gnocchi (4-6 servings depending on whether they are the main ingredient in supper).

To make sauced gnocchi for supper:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and boil the gnocchi until they float.
2. In a large pan with a cover, lightly saute chopped vegetables in olive oil.
   
3. Add flavorings such a jarred pesto or tapenade, chopped garlic, etc.
4. Finish the veggie sauce with a knob of butter if desired.
5. Add the cooked gnocchi to the veggie sauce and stir.
6. Cover and let simmer slowly for about 10 minutes to assure that the gnocchi lose their "flour taste."
7. Serve with freshly grated cheese.

Last night it was sliced mushrooms, diced red pepper, and chopped baby romaine that was starting to wilt. Use whatever needs to be taken out of your veggie drawer. The cheese was Asiago. Yummy.

The Gnocchi Saga Continues

Recipes for ricotta gnocchi on the web seem even easier than potato gnocchi. Of course, not being satisfied to simply follow a recipe to the letter, I decided to violate a few "rules" others had set down.

First rule to be violated: Use fresh whole-milk ricotta and drain it overnight. I used part-skim ricotta from the supermarket and didn't drain it.

Second rule to be violated: Carefully mix the egg and ricotta by hand, adding very little or even no flour. I used the food processor and flour about equal in weight to the ricotta.

Potato gnocchi must be made without blending or processing the potatoes because to do so breaks the cell walls of the potato, setting the water loose. More water means more flour which means heavier gnocchi.

But, if careful and limited pulsing of a food processor can make pie crust, why not try it for ricotta gnocchi?

You need a fairly large food processor to make this recipe. I have a 1980s vintage model that refuses to die.

Ingredients:

• 15 oz. container part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
  
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1-2 ounces freshly grated parmesan or other grating cheese
• Salt and white pepper to taste.
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups sifted flour

Procedure:

1. Quickly mix the first five ingredients in the processor.
2. Sift 1/2 cup flour into the processor and pulse briefly on slow speed to mix.
3. Repeat step two until the dough is stiff enough to form a ball. Use as little flour and as little pulsing as possible.
4. Remove the dough from the processor and divide into four balls. Wrap and refrigerate briefly to help firm the dough for handling.
5. Taking one ball from the refrigerator at a time, divide it and shape it into stubby rolls about 3/4 inch in diameter.
6. Cut the rolls at 3/4 to 1 inch intervals and roll each piece into a ball. Shape the ball by rolling it over fork times, whisk wires, or other surface to make grooves.

Store and prepare to eat as with the potato gnocchi in the previous post.

How to Use a Whole Bag of Potatoes

There are only the two of us, so I generally buy potatoes only as needed. Bill has been swooning for lack of mashed potatoes, which really are best made with baked russets. Summer is no time to turn on the oven for just two potatoes. If I just microwaved them one or two at a time, inevitably some poor, lost potato would end up sprouting in the bottom of the veggie bin. What could I do with a bag of 13 good-sized russet potatoes that would allow me to bake them all at once? Time for some new cooking experiments.

The web came to the rescue with many seemingly simple recipes for potato gnocchi. Gnocchi are little Italian dumplings. Like dumplings everywhere, they can be made from a variety of ingredients, a simple version using potatoes, flour, eggs and salt. The pictures of web versions can be a bit intimidating because they seem so evenly shaped. Mine might more appropriately be called "malfatti," Italian slang for poorly shaped dumplings or pasta. No matter, they were very tasty.

Ingredients:

• Cooked russet potatoes, still warm, skins removed.
  
• 1 egg for each two medium-large potatoes
• Enough flour to make a dough you can handle.
• Salt to taste
  

Baked potatoes are drier than boiled resulting in less flour being needed to make a dough. Less flour means more potato flavor. Measurements and proportions vary with the weather, size and moisture of potatoes and eggs. I had seven biggish potatoes, 4 large eggs, and added about two-and-a-half cups of sifted flour to get a sticky dough that left the sides of the bowl.

Procedure:

1. Mash or grate the potatoes by hand. Do not blend or process them. Using a blender makes the potatoes runny which would result in more flour being needed and heavier gnocchi.
2. Mix the egg into the potatoes.
3. Work in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough leaves the side of the bowl and can be handled.
   
4. Refrigerate the dough a few minutes to stiffen it a bit and make it easier to handle.
5. To shape the gnocchi, roll pieces of dough into snakes about 3/4 inch in diameter and cut into 3/4 inch pieces. You may then roll these pieces into balls and roll the balls across the tines of a fork, holes of a grater, or wires of a whisk to make ridges in the gnocchi that will better hold sauce.

If you are going to freeze the gnocchi, place them separated from each other on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once they are completely frozen, put them in meal-sized plastic bags.

To cook the gnocchi, whether frozen or not, bring a pot of water to a boil and gently put the gnocchi in one or two at a time. Make sure the pot is big enough that your gnocchi can poach without touching each other. At first the gnocchi will lie at the bottom of the pan. Move them gently to make sure they are not stuck. Wait until they float and then remove them from the water.

At this point, gnocchi become a wonderful canvas to be painted with sauce, pesto, butter, whatever strikes your fancy.

Yummy!