My Quest for a Healthier Life: Gnocchi A La Narciso

I had such a productive day yesterday that I felt like trying a new recipe on top of everything else that I accomplished. This recipe was not "hard" but more time intensive than I bargained for.

Gnocchi A La Narciso sounds fancy doesn't it? Gnocchi is simply a pasta made from potatoes. That is what I kept telling my kids when they kept asking, "What is this again?" And, the general consensus? A keeper recipe, but next time I put all the kids to work kneading, rolling and cutting. I made two pans so we could try different flavors. One included spaghetti sauce (straight out of the jar!) and the other was olive oil and basil. Both were really good, and I still can't decide which one I liked better. In this picture there is more of the basil on my plate than the sauce.

Gnocchi A La Narciso

* 3 large baking potatoes (2 pounds)
* Vegetable oil
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2large eggs
* 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 teaspoon pepper
* 3 quarts water
* Spaghetti sauce
* 3 cups grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese

1. Scrub potatoes clean, pat dry and then rub with the oil before wrapping in Alumninum foil. Bake them at 400 degrees for 1 hour or until tender. (mine were huge and took longer to cook) Let them cool enough that you don't burn your fingers. (I was in a hurry and burned mine, so I would suggest baking the potatoes and hour or two before you want to start preparing the Gnocchi.)

2. Peel potatoes, discarding skins, and then mash the pulp with a fork. (This is to help get a smooth dough without lumps of potatoes in it. Trust me, it is easier in the long run.)

3. Beat potato pulp, 2 cups flour and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and divide into 8 equal portions. Coat each portion with flour.

Where did the 8th lump go? Ah, there it is. He also is well floured as you can see.

4. Knead each portion with well floured hands until smooth and elastic and no longer sticky. (This took a lot longer than I expected and I had to add a lot of flour to each portion. During this time I also mashed any potatoes that were not mixed. Older kids would be a great help here to speed things up.)

5. Roll each portion of dough into 3/4-inch diameter ropes. (Mine were a little lumpy.)

6. Cut each rope into 3/4-inch lengths.

7. Place on a well floured cookie sheet.

8. Bring 3 quarts water to a boil over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven. (I just used my plain old 5 quart pot). Drop dough pieces, 10 to 12 at a time, into the water. Cook 3 to 4 minutes or until gnocchi rises to the top. Remove and spread on parchment paper while you repeat until all the gnocchi is cooked. (I went ahead and spread some spaghetti sauce in the bottom of my baking dish and just transferred them straight to the pan. Also, notice my basket spoon that was perfect for this recipe.)

9. Layer sauce, gnocchi and Parmesan cheese in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish and then repeat. (I also made the basil version. For that I just sprinkled some olive oil in the pan, layered the gnocchi, sprinkled basil and Parmesan cheese. I also just did one layer of each since I was not sure if my family was going to like this recipe.)