| White Truffle Gnocchi
Posted: 12/8/2008 7:31:26 PM | ingredients:
potatoes
flour
salt
eggs
olive oil
nutmeg
ungrated parmesan cheese
white or black truffle
heavy whipping cream
I don't cook with exact quantities, hence no specific amounts. You will need ~equal parts potatoes and flour. 8 potatoes yields about 4 meals for 2. Thus, 1 meal for 2 = 2 potatoes.
Try to get European white truffle as it is much more potent than its US counterpart. Otherwise, Oregon/Olympic truffle will do - you'll just need to use more. La Buona Tavola Truffle Cafe in Pike Place Market sells European truffles, but you must get them as soon as they are in stock (their email notifications work like a charm). Warning! Truffles are stinky, stinky little tubers! And you may not use all of it on this meal. The good news: You can hide a truffle in the center of a small jar filled with raw rice. The rice will absorb the odor. Later, when you finish the truffle, you can cook the rice for another truffle-tastic dish.
Boil the potatoes until they are soft. Peel them. Mash them. Add a dash of nutmeg (about 1 tsp per 2 potatoes). Add salt (same amount). Once the potatoes have cooled enough to be touched (I mash w/my hands, so as soon as I stop yelping from suprise hot spots) mash in an egg. One egg per ~4 potatoes. No worries if you are only using 2 potatoes, however). Introduce flour and mash until consistency is semi-dry, like cookie/play-dough.
Grab a lump and roll it into a long cylinder on a pre-floured surface. The log should be about 1-inch in diameter. Using a knife, travel the length of the log, cutting off pieces at 1/2 inch intervals. Roll each piece into a ball (you may need to flour your palms regularly through this process). Each ball should be about the size of a quarter.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, adding salt and olive oil ( a few spoons of salt and about 1/2 shot of olive oil).
For each ball: Using a coarse cheese grater (or a fork), press the ball against the grater/fork surface with your thumbprint. The ball should now take the shape of an oversized red blood cell with bumps in its back (aka a dumpling). Drop it into the water.
As the dumplings become cooked enough, they will float to the surface. Fish them out with a strainer, shaking off any excess water. Put them in a pan, adding a little olive oil to keep them from sticking together.
Once you have a full pan, add some heavy whipping creme (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan). Grate a generous coat of parmesan cheese over the top. Bake at 450 degrees for about 5-10 minutes.
Plate up. Grate the truffle over your masterpiece, and enjoy with some white wine.
Bon appetite! | |
|
| White Truffle Gnocchi
Posted: 12/10/2008 8:46:55 AM | | hi... I love gnocchi.... they are my fav Italian comfort food.. I do not do too much dairy but I do accasionally buy raw organic rennet free parmageano, it is very good... I love gnocchis with a fresh tomato and sundried tomoto sauce or with pesto or even just butter and sea salt... truffles would always be a welcome addition, decadent... blessings for good eats and health, warmly Mona | |
|
| White Truffle Gnocchi
Posted: 12/11/2008 2:31:10 PM | I also love gnocchi, recently went to Mr Locatelli's restaurant in London, which is offering a white truffle menu, loved it, so definitely will be trying this recipe, sounds delicious :)
There's also a Slovakian equivalent of gnocchi; halusky, which I'm incredibly fond of, usually cooked with really fatty bacon and goat's cheese, pure comfort food.. | |
|
| |
| White Truffle Gnocchi
Posted: 12/14/2008 10:07:41 AM | "Grate the truffle over..." <--this should be the last step in every recipe!
recipe sounds good.
i like my gnocchi really light and pillowy like clouds so here are a couple of things i do to make them "float of the plate":
- use starchy potatoes(idaho/russets/chef's) since waxy ones turn out too heavy
- roast them in foil so they don't get waterlogged and the only moisture that ends up in the dough is from the egg
- use a food mill to rice the potatoes so you don't inadvertently overwork them and activate the gluten (making them gluey)
- if i'm in a rush(never a good way to make pasta!) i'll cheat by quartering the potatoes, then boil them, rice them and then dry out the hash in a pot on the stove before making the dough
- after boiling, finish them in a pan with duck/bacon fat! (same goes for spatzle...and sweetbreads...and everything else you cook as a matter of fact)
the ratio i use is 4:1 potates to flour by weight. gnocchi is also a good "fridge cleanup" tool so sometimes i add ricotta/sage/dill/etc to the dough itself. | |
|
|
Home
login 
