Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Baked Potato Gnocchi {With a French Twist}

 
Heavenly.

Pillowy soft.

Perfect little nuggets.

Tomato sauce.

Melty mozzarella.

Fresh Basil.



My love for Gnocchi. 

That's the one thing I can be patient about. Spending too much time searching for the best recipes. Slaving in the kitchen almost the entire afternoon to prepare gnocchi for dinner tonight. Well, that and taking photos for each step. 

For you. 

Because you HAVE to try this. 


This. Is. So. Gooood.

Gnocchi coated with delicious tomato sauce with pockets of melted mozzarella laced with fresh basil is simply... the best

One word.

LOVE.


The hubby practically licked the bowl clean. No, those aren't tomato sauce stains on his face. Really.

Now that's something.

Here's what you need to do. 
Boil 500g of potatoes. Drain and mash them gently.

{The reason why this gnocchi has a french twist is because of how it is prepared, you start with a choux pastry then you mix it with the mashed potatoes.}

Heat 2 tbsp melted salted butter with 1/4 cup milk. Stir until incorporated. (Do it over low heat so as not to scald the milk like I did oops and try to avoid doing distracting things like taking photos while cooking.)


Remove from the heat and add 1/2 cup flour at once. Stir vigorously until well mixed.



Return the pan to the heat and cook until the flour mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and let cool for 2 minutes before adding 1 egg.
 
Beat the dough with the egg until incorporated. It will separate in the beginning but will come together after a while. 


(At this point, I think I did something wrong with the recipe because the original recipe says that the dough is supposed to be stiff and sticky. Mine looked too wet. Definitely gone wrong.) Anyway, I went ahead with it.

Stir in the mashed potatoes to the flour-egg mixture. Add more flour, 1/8 cup at a time if the mashed potato-flour mixture is too wet. 

Dust your wooden board with flour. Take a handful of the dough. Roll it gently with floured hands (makes shaping the gnocchi easier) into a rope. 

Cut the rope into little nuggets like so. Roll each nugget a little bit around in the floured board gently just to smooth the edges. Repeat until all the dough is finished.


To cook the gnocchi, simmer water with a pinch of salt over low heat. Drop the gnocchi into the  water. Once they are cooked, they will float to the surface.

Remove with a slotted spoon. Set aside.   


1 medium onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 to 2 cups tomato sauce, bottled mixed with herbs ( I always like extra sauce!)
1 tsp dried parsley
pinch of salt, sugar and pepper to taste

cooked potato gnocchi (I used about 2/3 of the recipe above)
mozzarella, sliced
basil, torn

 Any tomato sauce that you fancy and fresh mozzarella cheese (I used light with less fat.)
 
Preheat the oven to 200 degree C.

Saute the onions and garlic in a pan over medium heat with 2 tbsp olive oil.  Add tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a pinch of dried parsley. Add the cooked gnocchi and stir until well coated and  heated through.


Spoon the gnocchi into a baking dish. Top with torn mozzarella and basil leaves. Do another layer with the gnocchi, mozzarella and basil.



 Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until the mozzarella is melted.



One final shot before we dived into deliciousness.
 

Served with a Date-Feta-Cashew Salad (Recipe soon)




CLICK HERE for a more detailed recipe on how to make that fantastic Potato Gnocchi with a French Twist.