The long and winding road to Gnocchi...Or: Fun with potatoes.

Russet potatoes were on sale this week at my local grocery.

On a whim, I decided to try my hand at potato gnocchi.
I tried to gather the "best" Italian grandmother recipe for gnocchi, but they all essentially warned about the same thing:  the flour content would vary wildly based on what kind of potato you used, how it was originally cooked, and the humidity of your area.  So, with a very rough framework in mind, I set out about my task.
I scrubbed the potatoes and dried them off very well, and preheated the oven 350 degrees.

I took a fork and pricked each potato 6 to 10 times.  Then I gently applied a light coating of extra virgin olive oil by placing a tablespoon of oil in my hand and rolling the potato around with my other hand until it was covered.  Two Tablespoons is the absolute max that should be used for two pounds.

As you can see, the potatoes are not dripping with oil.  There is just enough oil on the skin to crisp nicely.

At this time, I also rubbed a generous portion of garlic salt on the outside...Yum.

I put these potatoes right on the rack to bake them, and I put a cookie sheet under them to catch any drips. They take one hour to one and a half hours depending on the shape and kind of potato.  Yes, you can microwave them, but I do not prefer them that way.  ;)

Post bake:

So, I gathered these out of the oven with silicone tongs (to prevent burns), and let them cool a bit in this casserole dish.

I am nothing if not frugal, and I wanted to save the tasty skins for another use.

When you think that your potatoes are ready, gently poke them with a fork.  
Your fork should glide in with very little resistance.  When you cut the potato, it should look like this:

I then proceeded to carefully cut the potatoes in quarters, put the potato flesh aside, and turned the oven temp up to 400 degrees.

Mmmm!  Potato flesh!  Hahaha That phrase just tickles me!

Here are a couple of photos of the skins while they are getting ready for their big moment.

Wanting to keep my potato skins in the theme for night, I sprinkled them with granulated garlic, salt, fresh ground pepper, and freshly grated Parmesan.

In the oven they went, and I baked them for 15 minutes...Just until the cheese has melted and the potatoes were crispy, but still tender.

While they were baking, I started mashing the potato with a fork:

I didn't want to get to crazy with it.  I just wanted to be sure to get rid of the big lumps.
After I crushed all of the lumps, I transferred it to a large bowl...Errr...That's what I should have done.  I ended up using a bowl that was just a little too small.   hehehe


So, next I added 1 teaspoon of salt, and an egg.

I am terrible at this and forgot to take photos of the next step...hahaha
Bear with me.
So, after I gently folded the eggs and salt into the potatoes, I added the first cup of flour.
I folded and folded until the flour was entirely incorporated...I realized that I would need more.  This dough was too wet for rolling.  So, I added another half cup of flour and was content.  My dough felt light and fluffy. A slight crumb was happening.  It was time to roll.
I divided the dough into 4 kind of equal portions, and turned it out onto a lightly floured surface.
I rolled it out to the thickness of my thumb...or tried to anyway.  Hahaha
You have to be careful not to overwork the dough or they wind up being hard little lumps instead of little potato pillows of awesome.
After getting content with the size of the rolls, it was time to start cutting.  All of the recipes that I read indicated that the best size was one half to three quarter inch dumplings.  This is supposed to be the perfect size for each bite and fit nicely on a fork.  So, I washed a ruler, and measured our forks.  Half inch gnocchi it would be.  :)

Again, I wasn't terribly worried about perfection.  I just wanted them to be roughly the same size.
With gnocchi, you are supposed to roll them on a fork to cause ribbing that picks up sauce better.
My sprained knee was killing me from all of the standing...So, I decided to skip that part.  ;)


Then I let them rest for a few minutes while I started heating up my pan.  

Instead of boiling them, I decided to crisp them up a little in some butter and sprinkle them with garlic and salt...So, I heated up a quarter of a stick of butter over medium heat in a large skillet.  I tossed the gnocchi in and browned them on both sides.  It took maybe 6 minutes per batch, and made me wish that I had used a larger pan...Haha  

Some of them were beaten up a bit in the process, and I decided to stir up a quick thin alfredo sauce to cover my impatience.  (1 stick of butter, 1 tablespoon of granulated garlic, 1 cup of heavy cream, a generous cup and a half of shredded Italian cheeses---primarily Parmesan and Romano.  Heat butter and garlic over medium heat until melted, whisk in cream, and when warmed through, add cheese.  Whisk until it's combined.)

It was delicious...even if it didn't turn out as perfect as I had hoped.

Peas and Cornbread

My husband's Mamaw used to make this dish for him.

I hope that she's smiling down from heaven, and not shaking her head too much at my attempt at her peas and cornbread.  You see, I had to get this recipe from Gayle, my mother in law.  Gayle had to sneak peeks over the years, because Mamaw was a notorious recipe-secret-keeper.  She might give you part of the recipe, but never the whole thing.  Oh, Mamaw.  :)

So, I started off with one pound of locally grown cream peas.

I rinsed and drained them well.  Then I placed them in a 2 quart sauce pan.

Gayle told me the round about guesstimates for the other ingredients, but I measured what I used for posterity.

I added 2 heaping tablespoons of bacon grease...Yes, bacon grease.  If you want it to taste like Mamaw's, you gotta use bacon grease.

Then Gayle said that she thought Mamaw used a teaspoon or so of sugar...So, I added 2.  ;)

I decided to add a tablespoon of granulated garlic, a teaspoon of granulated onion, and two teaspoons of salt.

Then it's time to add the water.

You need to cover the peas with water, and then add an additional 2" of water on top of that.  It's better to start with your peas and seasoning "dry" and then measure 2" above the top of the peas.  After you start pouring the water in, they float...so, it gets tricky if you didn't pre-measure.  I put a teensy little mark (in bacon grease...haha) at the sweet spot.

Put your pot of peas on the back burner of your stove, and set it to medium.  

Bring it to a boil, stirring every so often (maybe every 5 minutes or so) to prevent scorching.

After it has been cooking for an hour,  you should prepare your cornbread and pop it in the oven.

It is ready after about an hour and a half to two hours---depending on how firm you like for your peas to be.

Serve peas and broth over cornbread.

Beau said that they were perfect, and just as he remembered.  That made it all worth it.