Gnocchi party: potato gnocchi with blue cheese sauce
Welcome to the gnocchi party! I am just turning up on time to the party – but in my defense it has been a busy week. My mother-in-law Annette, and her husband Terry, have been visiting, and so we have been out all week (it has been a major eating week!).
A few weeks ago, Penny from Addictive and Consuming rounded up several interested bloggers for a gnocchi party. Everyone was to make gnocchi, following the theme “unami”, and post it oh, right about now!
I have never made gnocchi before, but being a carboholic, I love it. The recipe I followed was from The Cook’s Companion, and it was very straight forward and easy to make for a gnocchi beginner.
Potato gnocchi with blue cheese sauce
Adapted from the Cook’s Companion
Serves 6-8
For the gnocchi:
salt
1 kg potatoes – Stephanie recommends Toolangi delight, desiree or nicola
300g-325g plain flour
For the blue cheese sauce:
125g blue cheese
1/2 cup milk
20g butter
freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons cream
Give the potatoes a good wash, and then place them in a large pot of water until tender. Drain and peel.
Pass the potatoes through a food mill or ricer directly on to a clean work surface and sprinkle with salt. I don’t have a food mill/potato ricer so I used a steamer basket that has large holes. It took AGES. But my arms got a good workout!
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil in preparation for cooking the gnocchi.
With one hand, sprinkle the potato with flour and, using the heel of the other hand, work it in. Be as quick and deft as possible (I wasn’t either of these things!). Continue until all the flour is incorporated – I only used 2/3 of my flour. Having never made gnocchi before, I wasn’t sure how stiff/sticky it was supposed to be, so I just stopped when it didn’t seem to want to take any more flour.
When the cooking water is boiling, roll the potato mixture into a long rope and cut into 1cm pieces.
Roll each piece across the curved side of a fork using one finger to create the traditional shape. I had NO IDEA what I was doing here so my gnocchi were all weirdly shaped!
Lower the heat for the pot of water until it is simmering. Drop in some gnocchi, and wait a few minutes until they rise to the surface. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, drain for a moment over the pot, and tip into a bowl (into a warmed oven to keep warm if you’re making lots). Repeat with the remaining gnocchi.
I served the gnocchi with a blue cheese sauce. The sauce should be hot on the stove while you’re cooking the gnocchi. Here’s the recipe for the sauce:
Combine the cheese, milk, butter and pepper in a heavy-based frying pan over a gentle heat and cook until thick and creamy. Add the cream, increase the heat a little, and cook, stirring, until the sauce starts to thicken. Keep warm while you cook the gnocchi.
When all the gnocchi is cooked, pour the sauce over it, shake gently and serve.
For my first time making gnocchi, I was rather pleased with them. They were (relatively!) light, and delicious with the blue cheese sauce. I did find the sauce rather strong so a bit less blue cheese or less sauce over the gnocchi would be a good idea next time. And I’m sure there will be a next time – since I now know how easy gnocchi is to make. I might buy a potato ricer first though!
Check out the other gnocchi party attendees:
Gnocchi Gnudi made by our lovely host, Penny from Addictive & Consuming
Braised Beef Short Ribs Adobo on Potato Gnocchi made by Divina from Sense & Serendipity
Pan-fried Pumpkin Gnocchi with Truffle Paste and Basil made by Mardi from Eat, Live, Travel, Write
Chocolate-filled Plantain Gnocchi, with chillies for Dessert made by Ozoz from Kitchen Butterfly
Malfatti a la Al Di La made by Trix from Tasty Trix
Tuna & Anchovy sauce gnocchi with roasted vegetables made by Conor from Hold the Beef
Gnocchi di Patate con Funghi e Salvia made by Mellie from Tummy Rumbles
Gnocchi Chicken Tikka made by Shirley from Enriching your kid
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Nori Butter made by Natasha from Five Star Foodie
Gnocchi in creamy mushroom sauce made by Christine from Christine’s Recipes
Trix
February 28, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
Hey there fellow gnocchi-party goer! Nice job – I can't believe you've never made gnocchi before, they look amazing. And blue cheese sauce, well … gimme.
Shirley
February 28, 2010 @ 12:57 pm
Thats cool for the first time. Mine was the first time too. Blue cheese sauce is great.
penny aka jeroxie
February 28, 2010 @ 1:43 pm
Blue cheese… yum and double yum! Great gnocchi as a first timer. happy gnocchi day and thanks for coming to the party!
Conor @ HoldtheBeef
February 28, 2010 @ 2:45 pm
So delicious, I'd love to have some of these with the tang of the blue cheese. Hooray for first timers! It was a bloody good arm workout, wasn't it π
5 Star Foodie
February 28, 2010 @ 3:22 pm
Gnocchi sound so good with the blue cheese sauce! Nice to meet you at the party!
mademoiselle dΓ©licieuse
February 28, 2010 @ 3:39 pm
I've made pasta from scratch with friends but haven't conquered my fear of gnocchi yet. Hooray to you for doing so!
Christine@Christine's Recipes
February 28, 2010 @ 3:44 pm
Both you and I haven't made gnocchi before. Haha….Very excited to be part of something new to me! Love it!
Gnocchi goes so well with cheese. You've got blue cheese with your gnocchi, very delicious! Congrats on your successful attempt!
Divina Pe
February 28, 2010 @ 4:24 pm
Blue cheese is one of my favorite sauces and I could almost taste the photo when I saw it. It's double yum and I can't make to make this.
mellie
February 28, 2010 @ 8:57 pm
Of course *smacks head* – blue cheese is like SUPER umami! Why didn't I think of that?
I adore gnocchi with a blue cheese sauce, especially a gorgonzola dolci. Yum!
Von
February 28, 2010 @ 9:02 pm
The blue cheese sauce sounds really good!! I've never made gnocchi before- i t sounds really fun!
Maria@TheGourmetChallenge
February 28, 2010 @ 10:14 pm
oh my how good do they look!!cant believe I missed a gnocchi party!! I love that picture of the mound of potato!! I think I would dig a well drop some butter into it and eat it as is!!
girlheartfood
March 1, 2010 @ 7:03 am
yum that looks lovely! How long did it take for you to make?
Jo - SecondHelping
March 1, 2010 @ 9:11 am
Damn they look tasty. I don't have a rice mill either so using a steamer is a sensational idea.
Sook
March 1, 2010 @ 5:11 pm
Oh this looks fabulous!
Agnes
March 1, 2010 @ 9:53 pm
Trix: Thanks! I definitely need more practice shaping the gnocchi, they were mostly just oddly shaped lumps. π
Shirley: I'm glad I wasn't the only first time gnocchi maker!
Penny: thanks for having the party! I'm glad I finally made the leap and tried making gnocchi.
Conor: my arms were killing me afterwards. I should quit exercising and just make gnocchi. π
5 Star Foodie: nice to meet you at the party as well. π
mademoiselle: I haven't made pasta all that many times, but I think making gnocchi was more satisfying.
Christine: thanks! I'm glad it worked out okay. π
Divina Pe: glad there's so many blue cheese lovers out there! π
Mellie: Gorgonzola dolci? Yummmmm. That would be delicious!
Von: the blue cheese sauce was excellent, although pretty smelly. π
Maria: hehee, I actually ate a small amount of that potato mound. But it didn't taste very good without salt and butter!
girlheartfood: it took about 45 minutes for the potatoes to boil and become tender. And then probably another 45 minutes to push all the potato through the steamer and work the flour in. It would be much faster with a potato ricer!
Jo: Good idea in theory, possibly not such a good idea in execution. It took a while!
Sook: thanks!
Ozoz
March 2, 2010 @ 8:12 am
Love the gnocchi…and the photos are amazing!!!!
annette
March 3, 2010 @ 3:18 am
Looks great Agnes. Sorry we couldn't stay a bit longer and sample these. I have never made gnocchi, but now I think I should try it!
Iron Chef Shellie
March 5, 2010 @ 12:08 pm
They turned out so well Agnes!! Looks fantastic, I wouldn't mind some for lunch please π