Gnocchi, Take One

Gnocchi almost makes me believe in god.  Pasta made from potatoes?  Sometimes with cheese?  Sign me up.

Trader Joe's used to carry this frozen sweet potato gnocchi with sage that was so tasty and was great for a quick dinner in the winter, or just straight up lazy comfort food.  My roommate has brought me the news that she's not been able to get it her last few trips.

Today, I thought I'd have a go at making potato candy.  I mashed three fist-sized potatoes, because reading recipes first is for losers.  Oh, I only needed two tablespoons of potatoes?  AND SIX CUPS OF SUGAR?  WTF.

So I used The Google to find a recipe for something to do with mashed potatoes.  I think I was hoping to find a pancake of some sort, but then the words "gnocchi," "brown butter," and "sage" jumped out at me.  OH OKAY, MARTHA STEWART.

As this was unplanned, I had no fresh sage, but I didn't even care, because my idea was going to be awesome.  My adaptation of Martha Stewart's recipe as follows:

2+ cups mashed potatoes
1 egg yolk
1 tsp lemon zest (I don't think the zest added much to this, but that could be because I was too busy making out with sage.)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1¼ cups flour (plus some to dust your surface)
1 T salt
3 T butter
Black pepper to taste
2 tsp ground sage

While preparing the next step, set a large saucepan full of water on high heat and bring it to a boil.

In a large bowl (or stand mixer), combine the potatoes, egg, zest, olive oil, flour, a teaspoon of salt, and a teaspoon of sage.  Mix until dough forms.

[Pretend there's a picture of my ingredients in a bowl here, LOL forgot to put my memory card in.]

I will paste Ms. Stewart's directions for this next step below, but hell if I know what she's saying:

On a lightly floured work surface, roll 1/4 of the dough into a 3/4-inch-diameter log. Cut the log into 3/4-inch-long pieces. Pick up one piece of dough, and press onto the back of a fork with your thumb. Still using your thumb, roll dough off fork, forming a "C" shape; the indentations from the tines should be visible. Place the gnocchi on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat process with the remaining pieces of dough, arranging finished gnocchi in a single layer. Repeat with the remaining 3 portions of dough.

What?  That didn't even have a picture with it, so I really don't know what she was describing.  At any rate, I separated half the dough and set it aside to freeze (after I was done cooking, I made them into the proper shape before putting them in the freezer, layered between wax paper).  I took bits of dough and tried to roll them into snakes to cut up and press fork tines into the back, but it wasn't like working with pretzel dough.  It's too soft for this to be super effective.

I TRIED, MARTHA!

I cut it into little thumb-sized bits and made sort of half-assed crescents with them, and then gently pushed my fork into them.  This worked best if the tines were dusted with flour.

Post-forking, nothing was a crescent anymore.

Quickly but gently, drop the dumplings into the boiling water.  Allow them to boil until they float to the top.  This could happen in as little as two minutes, but I boiled mine a bit longer, hoping for a bit of a denser texture.

The brown butter.  At SOME point, maybe when you put the water on (which you already did because now it's the future!), put the three tablespoons of butter into a saute pan and heat on medium-low heat.  Slow and steady wins the race.  You don't want it to burn or bubble away.  After a while, it will turn a nice shade of brown and will just smell delicious.  At this point, add the second teaspoon of ground sage.  If you're super fancy, chiffonade some fresh sage into that butter.

When the gnocchi was finished cooking, I drained them, and then tossed them into the butter and turned the heat up a bit, gently sauteeing the dumplings in this magical butter mixture.  Here's an awesome picture of my weird-shaped gnocchi absorbing the flavor of the butter.

SO good.  If you like things a bit sweet, add a pinch of brown sugar to the butter and sage.

I posted this as take one, because the next time I make it, I'll be using YAMS.

You should definitely make this.