I got hooked on gnocchi nearly a decade ago in Berkeley. One of my favorite lunch treats: Chicken and Gorgonzola Gnocchi from Gypsy’s on Durant. The potato dumplings tasted so light and paired so nicely with the sharp cream sauce.
When we moved into our first house in Richmond – I decided to make gnocchi. At the time, online recipes called for boiling the potatoes before mashing them up with flour and eggs. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been better.
About seven years later in Las Vegas- Mark ordered the best gnocchi entr̩e Рever. Imagine airy pillows of potatoes, sauteed in butter and melting in your mouth.
Finally – 2010 – I decided to try making gnocchi again. Our potato dumplings made me and my belly quite happy.
Online, chefs Michael Chiarello and Tyler Florence recommended baking the spuds over boiling them.
Sounded like a good idea.
So – I settled on an easy-to-follow version by Simply Recipes. Mark said he was an expert in mashing – so he took care of working with the hot potatoes out of the oven. Another fun, messy, couple-building activity: rollin’ gnocchi. It took a delicate touch and some pressure to squeeze out these long rolls of potato, flour and eggs.
We served a majority of the gnocchi with marinara sauce and spicy Italian sausage from the Nugget. Our handmade notches in the dumpling helped scoop up the sauce and meat.
My favorite preparation of the gnocchi was pan-fried with butter and garlic salt. It’s not exactly like Kellar’s version – but it wasn’t far off either. The simple flavors of potato, butter and salt tasted both elegant and down-to-earth.