I had the brilliant idea that we ought to try making out own pasta, and since neither of us have any pasta attachments for making spaghetti or other types, I suggested gnocchi. (Apparently there is a tool for making gnocchi as well, but it wasn't needed in order to get the gnocchis made...).
For an appetizer, we chose to make baked mozzarella sticks with a very improvised marinara, as we both forgot about the marinara sauce until it was time to eat.... ;-) Our main course was gnocchi with alfredo sauce and for dessert, we had a tiramisu planned.
BAKED MOZZARELLA STICKS
First up was the mozzarella sticks. Let me first present you with the recipe we used:1 package mozzarella string cheese (we used the light ones)
2 tbsp Flour
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten2 tbsp Flour
1 cup dried bread crumbs (alternatively you can use cracker crumbs, cornflake crumbs or panko bread crumbs...)
Salt & Pepper
Marinara sauce for dipping (which we forgot..)
1. Place the cheese strings in the freezer at least 1 hour before you plan to make these. These will lessen the oozing of the cheese. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Place the flour, egg whites and crumbs in 3 separate dishes. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Cut the cheese strings in 1/2 widthwise. Dip one cheese stick at a time into the flour to coat, then into the egg whites and then the crumbs. Dip it into the egg again and then the crumbs again, squeezing to help them adhere. It'll be messy, but try to cover the cheese completely. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or sprayed with cooking spray. Repeat with all of the cheese.
3. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.
Serve immediately with warmed marinara sauce.
Ok, so first of all, I recommend using plain crumbs without any seasoning in them. I don't know if the light mozzarella strings had more salt in them than the regular ones do (it's possible), but our mozzarella sticks, although they were tasty, were a little on the salty side. Next time I won't be salting the flour, we will be using the entire egg not just the eggwhites for coating and we'll monitor the salt content better.
This was a very messy food to make, as you had to dip it in egg, then crumbs, then eggs again and THEN back in the crumb tray. By the end of it, my fingers had more coatings of breadcrumbs on them than the mozzarella sticks did.
We had forgotten about the marinara sauce, so we made an impromptu version. We took a can of tomatoes and put it in the blender with some Italian seasoning and fresh basil. It turned out pretty good for being improvised like this. We also tried dipping the mozzarella sticks in salsa, and surprisingly enough, that did taste very good so it's a nice option if the marinara sauce somehow is forgotten.
GNOCCHI
Next up were the gnocchis & the alfredo sauce, and let me tell you, it was a good thing we had already fed everyone some mozzarella sticks already, because this gnocchi took some time.
Our recipe was one we found on Food Network, posted by Tyler Florence, and here it is:
2 pounds (about 4) baking potatoes, like russets
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg white
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1. Pierce the potatoes several times so that moisture can escape during baking. Bake the potatoes in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 1 hour until fork tender.
2. Peel the potatoes while they are still hot and press them through a potato ricer.
(Note: we didn't have a potato rices, so we used a cheese grater instead, which worked really well!)
3. Put the potatoes in a large bowl with salt, baking powder, and egg white. Add the flour a little at a time and mix with your hands until the mixture forms a rough dough. Do not over-work the dough.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough for 1 or 2 minutes until smooth, adding a little bit more flour, if necessary, to keep it from sticking.
5. Break off a piece of the dough and roll it back and forth into a rope, about the thickness of your index finger. Cut the rope into 1-inch pieces. Gently roll each piece down a wooden gnocchi board while pressing a small dimple with your finger. The gnocchi should be slightly curved and marked with ridges. This will allow the pillows to hold sauce when served.
6. Boil the gnocchi in batches in plenty of salted water. The gnocchi are done about 2 minutes after they float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon, and serve.
If not cooking immediately, place the gnocchi in a single layer on a baking pan dusted with flour. Cover with ;plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.
Note: If the gnocchi start to feather and fall apart in boiling water, you need more flour. If the gnocchi don't float after 2 minutes and are hard, you used too much flour.
2. Peel the potatoes while they are still hot and press them through a potato ricer.
(Note: we didn't have a potato rices, so we used a cheese grater instead, which worked really well!)
3. Put the potatoes in a large bowl with salt, baking powder, and egg white. Add the flour a little at a time and mix with your hands until the mixture forms a rough dough. Do not over-work the dough.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough for 1 or 2 minutes until smooth, adding a little bit more flour, if necessary, to keep it from sticking.
5. Break off a piece of the dough and roll it back and forth into a rope, about the thickness of your index finger. Cut the rope into 1-inch pieces. Gently roll each piece down a wooden gnocchi board while pressing a small dimple with your finger. The gnocchi should be slightly curved and marked with ridges. This will allow the pillows to hold sauce when served.
6. Boil the gnocchi in batches in plenty of salted water. The gnocchi are done about 2 minutes after they float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon, and serve.
If not cooking immediately, place the gnocchi in a single layer on a baking pan dusted with flour. Cover with ;plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.
Note: If the gnocchi start to feather and fall apart in boiling water, you need more flour. If the gnocchi don't float after 2 minutes and are hard, you used too much flour.
Little by little we added the flour and kneaded the dough as if it was a bread dough. As the recipe does NOT offer a solution should the gnocchi dough end up with too much flour in it, we were very careful with the flour. We figured that we'd essentially be screwed if too much flour ended up in the dough. So to be sure, we broke off a small piece of the dough and made 5 gnocchis which we cooked, just to see if they would be "feathery" or if they would not rise to the surface. The gnocchis behaved like good gnocchis should, they rose and were cooked perfectly. Not bad!!
The only gnocchi that had a problem rising to the surface, was one that had a chunk of potato in it (ergo make sure to mash those lumps if you see them), but that also eventually rose to the top, but tasted slightly more "potatoey" than the rest of them.
Also, we didn't have a gnocchi board, so we just dented the gnocchis a little with our fingers and used a fork to make some stripes on the back. In fact, after a few gnocchis had been made, we dropped the fork indents as well and we just made a dent in the gnocchi with our fingers and left it at that. That turned out just fine!
It takes a long time to make gnocchi! This was a pretty large serving, we were cooking for 6 people. We were rolling, cutting and denting our hearts out, the entire counter was filled with little gnocchis waiting to be cooked, and we thought we'd never see the end of it. We both had a newfound respect for gnocchi by the time we were done, and we now understand why not a whole lot of restaurants are serving it... (and when they do, it costs a little more...). Gnocchis are a lot of work!
BUT .... it was worth it and I'll do it again! The end result was fantastic! There was a HUGE difference in the taste between these gnocchis that were made from scratch and the ones we buy in the stores. They tasted fantastic, so fresh, and we all ate a lot more than we should have.
We served it with an alfredo sauce (I'm not going to post a recipe, you can serve gnocchi with any types of sauces.... meat sauce, marinara...alfredo, pesto... just pick your favorite pasta sauce & go with it). In the alfredo sauce, we had added about 1/2 bag of a pea/carrot mix and some ham, just to have some protein and veggies in there to cut all the starch. It tasted sooo good and despite the work that went into the gnocchi, I'm all set for doing it again. Maybe I'll even look into getting a gnocchi board, who knows... it may help the process.
This is what the gnocchi looks like.... pre-gnocchi!
Here are our "test" gnocchis as they float to the top in the pot.
Here's a piece of the "sausage", from which I cut and shaped the gnocchis you see on the plate.
Our cooked "pride and joy" gnocchis! None of them were rubbery, they ALL floated to the surface and none were feathery ... I'm quite impressed actually, it being our virgin gnocchis and all ...
Here's our alfredo sauce w/the added ham & peas/carrots
Gnocchi & Alfredo sauce, ready to eat!
Plated..... ladies and gentlemen, pick up your forks....
... and go for it!
After we consumed more than our share of gnocchi & alfredo sauce.... it was time for dessert. The dessert, oddly enough, was the easiest to make. So here's a riddle for you:
What do you get when you layer ladyfingers soaked in coffee & a mascarpone cream filling, then drizzle cocoa on top?
Ladyfingers .... soaked in coffee .... + mascarpone cream .... =
Tiramisu!!!
Can you say yum?
Yum!
The tiramisu came out great, although it was a LITTLE heavy on the coffee.... I think in the future, we may cut the coffee with some milk to balance the taste a little bit, but don't get me wrong .... it tasted good, and we ALL had seconds!!
Our Italian night went great, I say we did 3 for 3, all entrees came out great and all entrees are something I'd love to do over again. Definitely a success!
Are you hungry yet? ;-P
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