Thursday, July 17, 2014

Rosie Makes Ricotta Gnocchi..

AN HONEST POST.

People?
I want help on this recipe.

I want someone to challenge me!

I made something today I've never made before -gnocchi.
And to be honest with you,
I did not like it.

A few days ago,
I made my neighbor's recipe for Ricotta Bread
which is absolutely delicious
and has a texture almost like pound cake.

Anyhoos, I had ricotta left over and I found a recipe 
for Ricotta Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage Sauce
and thought I'd give it a try.

Gnocchi
10 ounces whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/3 cup good-quality toasted breadcrumbs
(I used my homemade baguette,
which is as good a quality as they come.)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 King Arthur unbleached AP flour

Line a fine-mesh strainer over a deep bowl
with several layers of cheese cloth.
Place the ricotta in the lined strainer, cover,
weight down, and refrigerate for several hours.

 Transfer drained ricotta to food processor
and pulse about 10 times.
Transfer to large bowl and stir in
the Parmesan, egg, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Sprinkle flour and bread crumbs over the mixture
and combine well.
Refrigerate dough for an hour.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour
and roll small pieces of dough into 1-inch long pieces.
Set aside while you make the sauce.

Brown Butter and Sage Sauce 
4 TB unsalted butter
Kosher salt
1 TB minced shallot
1 TB chopped fresh sage
2 tsp lemon juice
Melt butter in skillet and cook over medium heat, swirling,
until butter is slightly browned and releases a nutty aroma,
maybe 90 seconds.
Remove from heat and stir in shallot, sage, and lemon juice.
Cover and keep warm.

Bring large pot water to a boil.
Add 1 TB Kosher salt.
Reduce heat to simmer and gently drop in gnocchi.
Cook until they float to the surface,
then continue to cook at a gentle simmer about 2 more minutes.
Scoop gnocchi from water with a slotted spoon,
letting hem drain, and then adding to the skillet with sauce.
Gently toss the gnocchi with the sauce until uniformly coated.

I used enough of my dough to make 9 gnocchi
and I threw out the rest of the dough.
Does that tell you something?

Ingredients for the sauce:
butter
shallot
lemon
sage


Mincey!  Mincey!

I dropped all nine gnocchi in boiling water, one at a time.

Eventually, the gnocchi rise to the surface.
Cook another two minutes.
Drain the gnocchi and then ...

... gently coat in the Browned Butter and Sage Sauce.
These are puffy little clouds.
I particularly liked the sauce.
To me, the gnocchi have a strange texture.
As in weird.
As in, not much texture.
But then, I've never had gnocchi before.
But if you have no teeth,
these would be great.

I would say it needs meat.
But then, I like meat.

You know...
I could make a shrimp and scallop purée.
Add it to the ricotta gnocchi and redo it.


Interesting...
But quite bland except for the sage/butter sauce.
That sauce was good.

I decided to go with moreover gnocchi.
So, I mixed a little flour and panko breadcrumbs,
breaded the cooked gnocchi, and fried 'em.



Well, anything fried is better.
But frying really didn't help this that much.
Try it and let me know.
I need someone who knows gnocchi to step in here!

Maybe I'll try real potato gnocchi before I give up.

I'll be honest with you,
I won't make ricotta gnocchi again,
but I will use that sage sauce on some homemade pasta.


2 comments:

Rocquie said...

I have never made gnocchi (nor will I) but I have eaten (at) it. My experience with it sounds like yours. I didn't care for the texture. --Rocquie

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Thanks, Rocquie. I feel a little better about this now. At least I got the sage sauce recipe. That was good. And the thing about the texture is that there is none.