As someone who previously had only eaten gnocchi at restaurants, I believed home-made gnocchi to be a challenging feat only professional Italian nonne should attempt; however, our most recent foray into the culinary traditions of Italy has disproven my hypothesis and shown me that this mysterious potato dumpling is surprisingly easy to make. All you need are potatoes, flour, and eggs. Even if you had only one egg, (plus 1 kg potatoes and 300 g flour) you’d be able to make a good portion of gnocchi for yourself and a friend.
Once the ingredients were acquired, the next step was to knead the mixture until it became a ‘soft and elastic dough.’ Many students found this practice to be quite cathartic after a long day of studio reviews. Push, pull, punch, squeeze, repeat…making gnocchi is also recommended by doctors for its stress-relieving capabilities!
The dough was then rolled into 1 cm wide sticks and cut at a bias every 2 cm to create small pillows that were then gently manipulated by pushing into the dough and making a sweeping motion with two fingers. Some people had better luck than others at creating the perfect gnocchi shape, but even the best were no match for master gnocchi-roller Anna Rita’s fast fingers.
Finally! After many rounds of rolling, cutting, and sweeping, the massive mounds of dough had transformed into tiny pouches ready to be boiled and soon to hold all six of the delicious sauces cooked by Anna Rita all day. This was the feast we all dream about – gnocchi, frittata, soup, and wine galore. By the time dessert came, we were all feeling almost uncomfortably full (despite the warning to eat only a small portion of each gnocchi, as there were many courses to come), but that didn’t stop us from indulging in the three different types of pan cake made in the microwave!
Many a gnocchi pun were told throughout the night. The best contender became the title of this blog post. Buon appetito!