Autumn Gnocchi
WELCOME TO OCTOBERRRRR!!!!!
We here & we ready for all the fall tings, da spooky tings & ALL THE COZY FOOD!
At least I am. If there’s some “summer stragglers” that are reading this & scoffing, you can take your palate & ass elsewhere because we are excited for this change up in here!
I’m somewhat apprehensive to share this recipe because it was my first & only attempt ((this was pre-diet and pre-life-change)) so I’m definitely craving it & wanting to make it again, it just needs to be scaled down a bit to be on the healthier side. Which I keep reading about RICOTTA GNOCCHI but that’s another entry & another day.
cozy food szn.
So without further ado, I present to you : AUTUMN GNOCCHI. Pillowy, doughy, chewy, delicious gnocchi kissed with fall flavors, protein-rich & healthy chicken sausage and all the saucy-ness you could want.
It is coveted (at least to me) and world-renowned. It is famous for being one of the better pastas to be easily made “Gluten Free” – depending on what type of flour you use, OF COURSE.
This was my first time making Gnocchi. From scratch. Down to the bones. Every single ingredient & step had me scared. But I did it. And it turned out pretty damn good! I even froze some leftover gnocchis!
The first thing to tell yourself is to be patient & this WILL turn out fine. This journey is more of a mood than a feeling. If that makes any sense to you.
nothing is as it seems.
Well this all started back in late July. My husband had to go out of town so I was left to my own devices. Y’all know I get into my MOST creative when he’s gone and we had exactly 5 (smallish) golden potatoes sitting around. I was like….what am I gonna do with yall? I’ll tell you what I did. I made GNOCCHI.
I had some garlic chicken sausage chillin in the fridge and some Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Alfredo that was expiring in August (weird time for that to expire but whatever) so I was like – let’s go crazy! Plus let’s be honest with ourselves….August was days away and I was already in fall-mode. I was simply biding my time. I was doing the crazy in the privacy and comfort of my home and I clearly WAITED another 2 months to share this with you.
SO ANYWAY.
I watched a few videos on “easy gnocchi” or “first time making gnocchi” and they were all basically the same from start to finish. Which made me feel really comfortable & really good about what I was trying to attempt. Plus, the secret is what you put ON or WITH the gnocchi – that was already gonna be a slam dunk. But how could I make it *mine* ? How could I make it *different* ? I already had that in mind as well. TRUFFLE OIL & SAGE. Super delicious flavors & super Fall-esque. I had it in the bag.
Execution? Eh. We did it. We got there, but I’d definitely educate myself a little better for a future attempt because peeling those roasted potatoes? SHEW CHILE. It was obviously scorching hot & not easy. So I’ll tell you what steps I missed out on so this will be a much easier road for you to travel.
I painstakingly peeled potatoes on my knees so you can easily peel potatoes standing up….got it? We gonna make it. I got you. You got this. We’re going on an adventure. Let’s Get To It!
Ingredients
• 5 medium golden potatoes, peeled & smashed
• 1 egg
• 1 cup AP flour, divided
• S+P, to taste
• Garlic Powder, to taste
• Bunch fresh sage
• Link Chicken Sausage of choice (I used garlic)
• 14.5 Oz Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Alfredo (or any fall-inspired sauce of your choice!)
• Black Truffle Oil, 1 TSP
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 TBS Olive Oil
Instructions, 1
To be 100000% honest, the only thing that I got hung up on while making this recipe was HOW to properly roast & peel the potato skins off – everything else was Gucci after that & I felt super confident from all my research but SERIOUSLY PEELING HOT POTATOES IS A SENTENCE ALMOST AS ANNOYING AS A PAPERCUT INBETWEEN YOUR TOES. Like I cant describe the frustration. So, please dear readers, learn from my mistakes.
DO NOT BOIL your potatoes – they will soak up an annoyingly insane amount of water & be a mess when you’re trying to make them into dough to form GNOCCHI.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Scrub the potatoes & prick all over with a fork.
Place the potatoes in a microwave safe Pyrex dish, add about 1/3 cup of water and cover with plastic wrap.
Microwave on HIGH for 5 minutes.
Once your potatoes have cooled down a bit and are safe to handle, pat dry & SCORE the skin of the potatoes carefully all around with a sharp knife.
Pour the 2 TBS of Olive Oil and rub all over the scored skin of the potatoes. Sprinkle S+P and place on a baking sheet.
Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes. The Microwave helped soften the potatoes and now the baking will help draw out any water & dry-roast them beautifully.
Remove the potatoes from the oven – they will look slightly shriveled but that’s what we want! There should be VERY LITTLE moisture coming out of those potatoes when the other ingredients are added to make Gnocchi!
Allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes. The pricking & scoring of the potatoes will also make it MUCH easier to peel off the skin before smashing the potatoes.
Once the potatoes have cooled slightly and can safely be handled, use a paring knife to gently remove the potato skins & place the skinned potatoes in a large bowl. THE KEY is to remove the potato skins while the potatoes are still WARM but obviously don’t burn yourself!
Lots of recipes show / talk / suggest a potato ricer but I don’t have one of those *SHOCKING* I know. But some elbow grease & a regular potato masher did the trick JUST fine as you’ll see.
So if you have a potato ricer, go ahead & use it for sure! If you don’t simply mash the potatoes down to a crumbly consistency.
Instructions, 2
Next, sprinkle S+P all over the riced / smashed potatoes, add the egg & heaping spoonfuls of AP flour at a time.
Using your hands, mix the potatoes together gently with the flour & egg together in the large bowl.
I personally like to do this step in a bowl because it keeps all the ingredients together and I can SEE that the flour and egg are properly being incorporated and not being flung around or left anywhere else other than all together with the potatoes.
Adding the flour little bits at a time give you the opportunity to LOOK and FEEL how the dough is coming together. If the dough still looks a little wet, add some more flour. If your dough is starting to feel crumbly, then STOP adding flour.
Sprinkle a little flour onto a work surface and begin to knead the dough. Yes, like ACTUALLY knead the dough like pasta or biscuits.
The dough should come together relatively quickly – you shouldn’t be kneading for more than 5-7 minutes.
Section your dough off into 4 quadrants. You should be able to get 2-3 “ropes” from each quadrant depending on how big each of your Gnocchi pieces are.
Using your hands start to “snake” out a section from the quadrant – again, you will probably get 2-3 ropes of dough from EACH quadrant so pay attention to how big the chunks are.
Once your dough has been “snaked” into a well-balanced piece, simply take a knife or kitchen scraper and “cut” the rope into small pieces, about 1 inch.
Dust with flour & repeat the process until all quadrants are cut, snaked / roped and sectioned into the 1 inch pieces
NOW COMES THE FUN PART.
I like to have a large sheetpan lined with wax paper & dusted with AP four at the ready.
If you have a gnocchi roller, great. If you have a fork, also great.
The “grooves” are the ridges that make Gnocchi so recognizable.
I’m not gonna lie because you’ll see my pictures – not every single one of my gnocchi is perfect. My shapes & sizes might be a little varying and I might not have gotten the perfect ridges on each of my Gnocchi but I MADE IT and IT WAS TASTY.
Start by gently rolling down the backside of the fork OR your Gnocchi roller to round out and form the Gnocchi.
Repeat this process until all of your Gnocchi have been rolled – either by fork or proper roller. EITHER WAY THEY WILL TASTE DELICIOUS.
I placed all of my Gnocchi onto that sheetpan so I could actually SEE how many Gnocchi I had to work with – lots. Many. TOO MANY. I rolled 96 Gnocchi that day. It was a long & arduous process but that first bite sent me straight to heaven. It was worth it.
Sprinkle with another TBS of AP flour & gently toss with your fingertips. Set your tray of Gnocchi aside.
Instructions, 3
Fill a large pot with water & set it on the stove to begin boiling.
On a cutting board, slice your choice of chicken sausage on the bias.
Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat, drizzle in the Black Truffle Oil & drop in your chicken sausage pieces.
Gather the leaves of sage & also sliver them.
Drop the sage directly into the saucepan with the chicken sausage & stir to wilt and cook together – about 3-4 minutes. Season with the Garlic Powder.
IS YOUR WATER BOILING?! Salt it!
Drop in SOME of your Gnocchi – depending on how large of a pot you chose.
Think of it as frying something – you don’t want to overcrowd the pot.
There is no exact timing for Gnocchi. They will instantly sink to the bottom of the pot like little stones & then they will puff and rise to the surface when they are ready – anywhere from 1 minute to 1 minute & 30 seconds – QUICK QUCK.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the floating Gnocchi from the boiling water & drop them immediately into the pan with your chicken sausage & sage. Turn the heat down to medium-low.
Repeat the process of boiling & transferring the Gnocchi pieces until all are cooked!
Save ½ cup of Gnocchi water that you used to boil them in.
Now it’s time for the sauce!
Gently pour in whatever pumpkin / fall / alfredo sauce you have chosen for this dish!
Gently stir in with the Gnocchi, Chicken Sausage & sage to coat – you don’t want to smush or smash your Gnocchi!
If your sauce is a little on the thiccccc side, now is the time to use that warm pasta water to thin it out!
Give your sauce a taste! If it needs some S+P now is the time! If your sauce tastes good, sprinkle in the ¼ cup of grated Parm – it will help thicken up your sauce & make everything a little more velvety.
Allow your sauce to heat through & thicken – about 5 minutes.
SERVE IMMEDIATELY. I was so moved by how delicious this smelled & how pretty it was – just in the pan! I think it was the difference of shapes & colors!
The bias cut round chicken sausage with the longer, ridged Gnocchi with ribbons of sage thrown in – don’t get me started on HOW GOOD this will smell – and that hint of Black Truffle Oil ?!
OY, its over. This dish is one for the books. It is impressive, it comes together quickly (once you get over the trauma of roasting & peeling potatoes and then making dough) *wink*
The weather continues to get cooler & fall rain is coming – when would you ideally make this recipe?
Hocus Pocus.
I just love the idea of weather-related food. I seriously believe Americans are one of the only cultures who only want to associate food with weather. Lots of us don’t like soup in the dead of summer – understandable We definitely like to grill meats outside when the weather is nice – who doesn’t? We enjoy a nice “cuppa” when the weather is rainy & gross – makes sense. BUT WE EAT PASTA YEAR-ROUND BABY. And PSL SZN? Starts when the weather is still brutally hot in August – shit we actually make NO SENSE.
I’m personally always down for a PSL but the actual taste & flavor of REAL pumpkin is something I seasonally look forward to. I want it to remain cozy in the depths of my brain. I want to associate fall, pasta & heaviness with pumpkin. It just makes sense to me.
HOWEVER – the “alfredo” aspect of my chosen sauce definitely lightened the overall mood of the dish – but that’s why I really wanted to bring it back around with that punch of sage – I mean, hardly anything screams fall / thanksgiving more than sage!
Hope you aren’t feeling daunted by this recipe – you can do it! Serve this for someone who deserves it – because obviously its got quite a bit of labor & love involved. And some people just don’t deserve that shit.
Thanks for stopping by!
I appreciate you stopping by! If you loved it, I’d love to hear from you.
If you hated it, then same.
Have a great day & look for my next entry!
© 2021 Cookin’ & Cussin’
