I was suddenly overcome yesterday mid morning with this desire to have gnocchi. I have had it once before - it was the prepackaged stuff you get at the grocery store. I don't remember the brand. I have no idea why this of all things was the thing I was craving, but man, I had to have some. After some quick googling, I found a vegan recipe (I don't do eggs. Not even in baking if I can help it.) which had some good reviews (you can never be sure sometimes with healthy alternatives), so gnocchi was a go!
I baked 6 potatoes in the oven for 2 hours and did manage to overcook them just a little. That's actually how I like my baked potatoes - the skin nice and crunchy and just a little bit hard. I should have taken them out about 30 minutes before I did for this purpose, so I will remember that for next time. The recipe said to let them sit for 5 minutes, cut them in half, grab a kitchen towel and scoop out the soft insides using the towel to prevent hand burn from handling a hot potato. I didn't do that. I just left them and went on my merry way. (I spent a little time in the afternoon working on my Volks SD10's clown suit. That's for another post.) About 2 hours later I came back to the kitchen to scoop out the potato guts and start assembling my gnocchi. (There is a reason they say to do it that quickly - after this long, the potato was kind of hard. *ahem, over baked, ahem*)
You mash the potato guts as fine as you can get them, and add salt to season. You then add in half cup increments up to 3 cups of flour. (The last 1/2 cup might not be necessary.) You are supposed to cut the flour in using a sharp spatula. The closest I had to work with was an old bent metal spatula, which worked fine turned on its side. I had no idea what I was doing. And the only problem I had with the recipe was it failed to tell me what the texture is supposed to be like when you have added the appropriate amount of flour. What is it supposed to feel like? I stopped at 2 1/2 cups because whole wheat flour is heavy and I didn't want to make it like concrete by adding any more. Let it rest wrapped in plastic, and you are good to go!
Once it has rested, you cut it into sections which you then roll out to 1 inch logs, cut into 1 inch pieces, and cook in boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes, or until they float. (I about made a corpse joke but this is food I am talking about here.)
The recipe for the sauce I planned to make called for chicken, fresh rosemary (I only had dried) lemon juice, onion, chicken broth and garlic. Simple. I made sure to set out the chicken breasts which were the frozen variety in advance (in a plastic zip bag in a bowl of water. Poultry must remain cold at all stages of thawing to prevent bacteria growth and spoilage.) You melt butter in a pan, cube the thawed chicken, season it, and cook it. It cooks fast. Here's the only problem with the recipe - it says to cook the onions AFTER you have cooked the chicken, and toasted the gnocchi (which didn't work, by the way) which is not a good idea. Onions take too long to cook for that. Next time I will add them before I cook the chicken and keep them cooking while the chicken cooks.
We had spinach in ours instead of the recommended peas. And instead of heavy cream, a healthy alternative in 1/3 cup of plain yogurt to about a 1/2 unsweetened almond milk works just fine. The almond milk is too sweet on its own, the yogurt is too tangy on its own. They off set each other very well. This is also how you make a buttermilk substitute, with an adjusted ratio.) So this will definitely give it a different flavor than heavy cream. I had half a container of firm tofu left over, so in the pan it went too. (To ensure the tofu has a good flavor, season it first. Add salt, onion powder, garlic, and whatever other seasonings you plan to use in your dish, mash it up real good using your fingers, and then add it to the pan. Otherwise it becomes a bland flavorless component that slowly sucks the flavor from everything else in degrees.) At the very end, add some finely grated (or chopped) mozzarella. Oh, and be sure to toss the gnocchi in the sauce before serving. Yum.
The Recipe
Sauce:
3 chicken breasts cubed and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic\
Half cup diced onion
1 can chicken broth
1-2 T dried rosemary (to taste)
2-3 T lemon juice (or juice of one lemon and its zests)
Half package of seasoned tofu
2 cups thinly sliced spinach
1/3 cup plain yogurt mixed with half cup almond milk
Garlic, salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup mozzarella
Gnocchi:
6 baked potatoes
Salt to season
2-3 cups flour
