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Fresh/Stuffed Pasta & Gnocchi--Cook-Off 13


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. . . now that I think of it, I bet [oxtail ravioli] would taste really good in an oxtail broth as part of a soup rather than in a tomato sauce as a sauced pasta dish.

Certainly. Tortellini in brodo is very traditional. I'm not big on tortellini in soup that has many other ingredients floating around, but tortellini in a clear broth is one of the best ways to appreciate them.

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Chufi,

in Joyce Goldstein's The Mediterranean Kitchen , she describes her long quest to find the secret for light gnocchi. Her final conclusion was that if you bake the potatoes rather than boiling them, they end up far lighter.

So maybe you should also try potatoes which are as floury as possible.

According to her recipe, bake the potatoes whole, cut in half and scoop out the insides while still hot, put the insides through a potato ricer, then add salt and as little flour as you can possibly use to hold it together. Also, she said, try making the gnocchi smaller.

I have to admit I haven't made this, but if you are experimenting then it's worth a try, right?

I forget which chef I read does this, but taking the baking idea one step further, put the riced potatoes on a sheet pan and put them back in the oven at a low temp to dry out even more. Another little trick that makes the gnocchi even lighter.

Chris Sadler

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Never imagined I would be anything but any onlooker to this thread but on the weekend I picked up a manual pasta machine at a garage sale for $4. Had to try my new toy! These are shrimp stuffed ravioli with a lime ginger sauce. They were very good for a first try. Must be beginner's luck! :biggrin:

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The stuffed ravioli.

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The cooked ravioli with sauce.

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A (blurry) look inside.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

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You know, I've tried these various tricks to make gnocchi lighter. . . baking the potatoes, etc. But ultimately I've never seen any reason to go away from my usual practice of boiling sliced potatoes in water and allowing them to dry in the colander for a few minutes. I don't use eggs in my potato gnocchi, so perhaps I've never needed to take extreme measures for drying (presumably these techniques are used so that less flour is required to bind the dough). But I also feel that it is possible to go too light. If you don't use enough flour, you end up with little lumps of mashed potato that don't have enough integrity to stand up as dumplings.

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Those ravioli look lovely Anna N! was that really your first stuffed pasta ever.. they look great :smile:

I really like the idea of the lime/ginger sauce, doesn't sound very Italian, but why not be creative with the flavors sometimes..

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Those ravioli look lovely Anna N! was that really your first stuffed pasta ever.. they look great  :smile:

I really like the idea of the lime/ginger sauce, doesn't sound very Italian, but why not be creative with the flavors sometimes..

Truly, it was the first time for making not only stuffed pasta but pasta of any sort that was edible! I have made a similar dish in the past using wonton wrappers but the pasta was so much better. These cook-off threads are inspiring whether one merely lurks or digs in with both hands.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

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Those ravioli look lovely Anna N! was that really your first stuffed pasta ever.. they look great  :smile:

I really like the idea of the lime/ginger sauce, doesn't sound very Italian, but why not be creative with the flavors sometimes..

These cook-off threads are inspiring whether one merely lurks or digs in with both hands.

Well put!!

Life is short; eat the cheese course first.

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My nine year old granddaughter and I made dinner together tonight. She's suggested we cook together on Fridays when she doesn't have homework.

We made ravioli stuffed with shortribs I had made a couple nights ago. She made the dough in the processor and then kneaded it by hand. We caramelized some shallots together, I deglazed it with red wine, added the beef and porcini that was pulled apart by hand (not minced) with some of the juice, reducing it to remove excess liquid. After we'd formed the first batch, her mother dropped by and we gave her some to take home.

When we finally assembled dinner, Missy also wanted to try the beet ravioli I'd made and frozen, so I added a couple of those. We had a simple "sauce" of oil, grated parm, and a sprinkling of chives. We accompanied this with a composed salad of mixed heirloom tomatoes, beets, & lima beans (she passed on the limas) that had sprinkled with balsamic and maldon salt.

My sweet gd was swooning with pleasure over it all, the best dinner ever, she said. And and all the better for being made by two. (This was only the second time we'd made ravioli together though we often cook together.) We finished dinner off with the apple tart we made.

On the way home, she was setting up the menu for our next dinner together. Her choices: cream of broccali soup, roast chicken stuffed with lemon, garlic, herbs and chocolate. mousse. :laugh: We'll do gnocchi at a future time.

"Half of cooking is thinking about cooking." ---Michael Roberts

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Mottmott, you two are building happy memories as well as learning to cook together. Lucky you, lucky granddaughter! :wub: I'm smiling here, thinking of it. Thank you for sharing your success and good times.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

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"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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Okay, a week or so ago, I gave gnocchi a try. This is my first time making it, or even much of anything involving a dough from scratch. It turned out okay, I guess, though not very flavorful. I followed the recipe in How to Cook Everything, but I think next time, I'll try to use the instructions that were linked to in this thread. I tried to make a butter sage sauce, but was in frantic mode by that point and so it was too much butter. I should have mashed the potatoes more - I had left that part to my husband to do ahead of time.

I'll try again, though I'm not sure I'll convince my husband to try it again. :)

Here's my dough

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The uncooked gnocchi (too big?)

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The finished result (served with a tomato & mozzarella salad)

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Any tips / advice for next time would be appreciated!

nan

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Does anyone know if you can use a food mill to process the potatoes for gnocchi instead of a ricer? What blade would one use?

Thanks, Julia

"Anybody can make you enjoy the first bite of a dish, but only a real chef can make you enjoy the last.”

Francois Minot

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I've used a food mill, yes. It's okay, if not as good as a ricer. You do have to be very careful about doing small amounts at a time so it doesn't end up gluey from being overworked in the mill.

As for the blade, I assume you are actually talking about the disk. The medium disk is just fine.

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thanks, slkinsey. Yes, I meant disc, not blade. Perhaps I can rationalize a new kitchen toy (a ricer) so I can attempt gnocchi with all the other novices!

"Anybody can make you enjoy the first bite of a dish, but only a real chef can make you enjoy the last.”

Francois Minot

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thanks, slkinsey.  Yes, I meant disc, not blade.  Perhaps I can rationalize a new kitchen toy (a ricer) so I can attempt gnocchi with all the other novices!

Keep your eye out for one at antique stores or garage sales. I got mine at a garage sale in Vermont for $5 - works like a charm!

Danielle Altshuler Wiley

a.k.a. Foodmomiac

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OK so I was all set for gnocchi today. I had bought potatoes, asking the potatoguy at the market for "not too floury not too waxy" ones. Then I saw the Kabocha squash I had bought a couple of days ago. I decided to make pumpkin/potato gnocchi.

Potatoes were boiled in their skins, pumpkin roasted in the oven. Both were nice and dry when I mashed them. I decided to be brave and not add an egg.. only flour. I added enough flour to make a dough that was soft but not very sticky. Shaped the gnocchi.. I thought they looked very nice.

Ofcourse the cooking was the hard part. I fished them out as soon as they floated to the surface, but by then they were almost dissolved. In the serving dish they collapsed together into an orange mealy mush. Sauced with enough sage butter to make an old shoe edible, we ate them anyway.

But not a succes. What went wrong?

oh no: i was meaning to make kabocha gnocchi tonight - i even googled out this lovely article: Masterful gnocchi: An Italian chef demonstrates the secrets of making those feather-light dumplings . (the recipe does call for an egg)

and to adrress the comment by somebody on this thread that kabocha produces too much moisture, i thought that it's the driest squash, is this not true?

anyway reading about your disaster made my thinking of switching to pumpkin spaetzle tonight :unsure:

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and to adrress the comment by somebody on this thread that kabocha produces too much moisture, i thought that it's the driest squash, is this not true?

anyway reading about your disaster made my thinking of switching to pumpkin spaetzle tonight  :unsure:

I think you should try the gnocchi, I still think it was just my fault and not the Kabocha's :raz: ,

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Over here, you can see that Kris and I are both making pasta.

Given her recent experience, and my lack of experience, help over on that blog is appreciated! Toward the end of the topic, I have some questions...

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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A bit late to this topic, to be sure, but I thought I'd add this photo of a dish that a few Vancouver eGulleters made last Monday in the Serious Foodie Class being offered by the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver.

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Seared Halibut with Piamontese Gnocchi in a Basil/White-Wine Broth

We tried three different methods of making our gnocchi: with a board, with a fork and with the two-fingered technique used by Andy Garcia in Godfather III (cheesy movie reference courtesy of Chef Tony Minichiello). Chef Tony intimated that Piamontese-style gnocchi are lighter than those to which most people are accustomed. All in all, I figure that the gnocchi turned out fairly well for my first attempt; now I won't be so cowed by the prospect of trying to make them in my own kitchen.

Joie Alvaro Kent

"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2,000 of something." ~ Mitch Hedberg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Over on our Tagteam blog, both Kris and I successully made pasta.

And, I was successful once again. I am using a mix of a cup and a half each of AP flour and some stuff I bought at the coop from a bin, labeled "duram seminola for pasta, along with five eggs and a splash of olive oil. It is working well, epecially now that I realize that an occasional bare dusting of flour can be my friend. I also am finding it helpful to cut the sheets in half when I am about 1/2 way through the rolling process (an atlas). Further, I am discoversing that of the 8 settings I have, we are happiest when the last level is #3.

The two neighborhood boys that were here tonight (raised on Chef Boyardee) were darned impressed.

So, time for me to braise something so that I have leftovers. I'm feeling confident enough to try a stuffed pasta!

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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A bit late to this topic, to be sure, but I thought I'd add this photo of a dish that a few Vancouver eGulleters made last Monday in the Serious Foodie Class being offered by the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver.

gallery_18820_1799_24322.jpg

Seared Halibut with Piamontese Gnocchi in a Basil/White-Wine Broth

We tried three different methods of making our gnocchi:  with a board, with a fork and with the two-fingered technique used by Andy Garcia in Godfather III (cheesy movie reference courtesy of Chef Tony Minichiello).  Chef Tony intimated that Piamontese-style gnocchi are lighter than those to which most people are accustomed.  All in all, I figure that the gnocchi turned out fairly well for my first attempt; now I won't be so cowed by the prospect of trying to make them in my own kitchen.

That looks so good. Beautiful dish, all of it! Nicely seared fish!

Great job Susan, too. Keep us posted.

Life is short; eat the cheese course first.

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Susan, the weather here is finally turning. After historical October high temp weather (the leaves still haven't fallen!), the temps are dropping rapidly to what should be at this time of year.

So, tonight, I took a nice bit chuck roast out of the freezer to braise tomorrow for dinner on Saturday. I took out an extra big one figuring that I would have a nice lot of leftovers for my first stuffed pasta attempt.

This pasta thing, once I figured out the tricks, is not nearly as difficult as I'd made it before.

Even the little boys who were here for dinner noticed a vast difference in the pasta served here tonight (alfredo, at the request of the boys and Diana) than what they get at home. Plus, it was a fascinating lesson for inquisitive 9-year old boys (whose mothers' are unappreciative of the fact that the boys have informed them that they should be making pasta from scratch).

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Needing a bit of advice. At some point this week, I will try my first stuffed pasta. I think I can handle the pasta and the stuffing part, but have some questions about the filling.

So, tonight we had a lovely braised pot roast. Onions, celery, cinnamon stick, some sweet paprika, garlic, more onions, and prunes. It was wonderful.

So, if I'm going to use this to stuff pasta, I assume that I need to add a binder? Or not? And puree it? Or just mince everything very fine?

Any suggestions or advice?

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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I would remove the prunes and obviously the cinamon stick.

When I have left over short ribs, I fry up a sliced clove of garlic, and then add a small tin of plum tomatoes, and reduce to marmelade consistency. Then add this to the meat , veg, and braising liquor of the short ribs, and a handful of parmagiano, then process. I find you don't need anything to bind.

"Gimme a pig's foot, and a bottle of beer..." Bessie Smith

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"111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321" Bruce Frigard 'Winesonoma' - RIP

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