A gnocchi lesson from an expert!

Years ago I tried making gnocchi and they were  little hard wads and had no taste... totally disgusting. Recently I searched the Internet for the gnocchi recipe with the most favorable reviews and tried again...  Since I knew I had used too much flour last time...this time I used too little... They were passable but not anything like my friend's Cristina's yummy gnocchi... She invited us over Sunday to have a gnocchi lesson and dinner.  I arrived at her door with my yellow shirt, yellow apron and a big bouquet of daffodils (upper left) from my garden...eager student indeed...

Cristina and her husband Max are from Milan and so their cuisine is not the tomato sauces and pasta of southern Italy but the wonderful risotto, polenta and creamy sauces of northern Italy... Everything in their kitchen is made from scratch with great reverence for not only the cuisine but also for the quality of ingredients and for time-honored traditional  methods of preparation.

She laughed and shook her head when I told her my recipe called for an egg.... only in America would they put an egg in gnocchi.. She boiled the potatoes and peeled them and riced them piping hot onto a small pile of flour (about 3/4 c.) and a little salt and commenced to knead vigorously, adding additional flour as necessary... Cristina assured me that having the potatoes hot was the secret.. All during the kneading process the dough stayed very warm.

She kept working and kneading and adding flour until the dough was smooth, glossy and elastic... no longer sticking to her fingers.  Being able to see and feel the dough gave me an idea as to where I had gone wrong. And since it is only potatoes and flour combined, it is the technique that is critical. And once it was perfect she rolled it into long ropes and cut little pillows of dough and here Max became involved..

It was his job to artfully arrange the gnocchi on floured trays to freeze or refrigerate.  Max  is also an excellent chef and most of their dinners are combined efforts.. I like to watch them working as a team in their kitchen and love it when they revert to Italian as the pace intensifies  ...

When served, the gnocchi was light and perfect and was swimming in a rich Gorgonzola sauce. The dinner included not only gnocchi but pork loin with an apricot glaze and Max's wonderful zucchini and cheese casserole. It was finished off with Max making  zabaglioni cream served hot over fresh strawberries..    Dinner at their house is always eagerly anticipated and long remembered. They return to Milan often and return laden with delights not available here in the states.

So we had a lovely day of playing bridge followed by a fabulous dinner.  To make it even more perfect I went home with a large bag of frozen gnocchi and the  secrets necessary for me to try again.. I was feeling very blessed indeed.....

p.s.. as I typed this post I was nibbling on some little biscuits Cristina sent home with me.  They were very similar to biscotti but made with corn meal. I must have that recipe also.