The art of gnocchi

In general, I love my vegetables and minimize my meat intake. But recently, I decided to be much more conscientious about using meat products — we’re talking borderline vegan. But just borderline. As such, I’ve renewed my love of potato. (Well, you saw my last post on potatoes!)

One of my favorite potato dishes is gnocchi (pronounced properly, please). I had a wonderful, brilliant, and sweet Italian ex-boyfriend (alas, the one who got away) who taught me how to make gnocchi alla sua mamma. Gnocchi can be made with semolina, ricotta, flour, or even pumpkin, but I love the potato version. Most gnocchi recipes call for the potatoes to be boiled, but all that accomplishes is a heavier potato — and for gnocchi, you want the potato to be its lightest. You want as much moisture out of the potato as possible. So I roast the potatoes for about an hour, and once I have the flesh broken up, I sometimes put it back in the oven to get it even drier. You’ll want a rich, starchy potato for gnocchi, so you can’t go wrong with the plain old Russet. The other typically erroneous thing about gnocchi — some recipes call for a lot of eggs. The Italian style I learned from Lorenzo does not use water and very little flour, so it takes some real skills to create the dough. The recipe below uses half an egg to help bind everything together, but work towards no egg in future.

Gnocchi takes sauces quite easily, but go for something simple that doesn’t require extra cooking of the gnocchi paste. Myself, I love pesto or a brown butter sauce. Mmmmh….well, I’ll be making it tonight. I’ll try to get some pictures to post.

Light As Air Gnocchi

Small handful kosher salt
1 lb russet potatoes (about 2 medium size)
1/2 egg, lightly beaten
Loose 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour
Pinch fine grain salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting boar

Optional:
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Spread a layer of kosher salt on a baking sheet and place the potatoes on top. The salt helps with heat circulation and more even cooking of the potato. Bake for about an hour. When cool enough to handle, cut in half and remove the flesh. Refine the potatoes by passing them through a potato ricer, grating them on the large holes of a box grater, or deconstructing them by running a fork through the flesh. (The potatoes should feel like flour. If they’re too moist, place in oven for another 15 minutes to dry out. Cool until you can handle.)

Mound cooled potatoes and drizzle the egg and sprinkle 3/4 cup of the flour on the top. If using optional ingredients, sprinkle these on as well. Using a pastry scraper, incorporate the flour and eggs into the potatoes with the egg well mixed throughout. Scrape underneath and fold until the mixture is a light crumble. Lightly and gently knead the dough with your knuckles.

If the dough is too tacky, sprinkle a little more flour at a time and incorporate quickly and lightly. The dough should be moist but not sticky. It should feel firm but billowy. To test for the right correct consistency, take a piece and roll it with your hands on a well-floured board into a rope 1/2-inch in diameter. If the dough holds together, it is ready. If not, add more flour, fold and press the dough several more times, and test again.

Cut finished dough it into 8 pieces. Lightly roll each piece into rope about 1/2-inch in diameter. Use a knife to cut pieces every 3/4-inch. Dust with a bit more flour.

There are special tools for shaping gnocchi, but you can use a fork. Press each piece of dough in and down the length of fork tines with your thumb. The gnocchi will curl a bit, and it should have the ridged impression of the tines. Set each gnocchi aside, dust with a bit more flour if needed until you cook them.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the gnocchi in batches by dropping them into the water a small handful at a time (do not overcrowd). The paste tells you when they’re cooked, as they will pop back up to the top. Let them float for 10 to 12 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon. Shake off water and serve with your favorite sauce. Minimize tossing to preserve their shape.

Spiced potato cakes

Last week, I enjoyed my first brunch at Tangerine, a cute looking corner restaurant I have passed time and again on 16th Street but hadn’t yet explored. I ordered the potato latke (pancake) served with poached eggs and smoked salmon. It was unbelievably good. And recollected potato blinis (essentially latkes) topped with sour cream and caviar at 4am in the morning at Pravda in New York accompanied by specialty vodka martinis.

Taking inspiration from this recent reunion with potato pancakes, I decided to make use of a bag of purple potatoes (I love their color). Only, my pancakes are lightly spiced with Indian spices, in homage to my friend Nicky, who used to make me potato pancakes and chai when I visited her in New York. Most latke recipes call for the addition of eggs. I don’t use eggs in my recipe below. I use a very small amount of oil to start off, and then once pan is seasoned, just rely on the nonstick coating, making for a minimally greasy pancake. (See pictures on this page for what greasy means.)

UPDATE: I came across this article on which potatoes hold up best for latkes. I concur on the Russet and the purple outcomes.

Simple Potato Pancakes
Time: 15 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooked
Servings: 6 pancakes

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes, any variety
1/4 cup thinly sliced onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 small jalapeno, de-seeded and julienned (optional)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika

Depending on potato, peel skin. Coarsely grate or use shredding attachment on your food processor or mandolin. You should have about 2 cups. If there is liquid, squeeze it out.

In large enough bowl, mix all ingredients together.

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil over low heat in a good, nonstick pan. When warm, make a pancake about the size of your palm, flatten it a bit and place in pan. It doesn’t have to be thin but should be fairly flattened. Tuck in any stray onions. Cook 2-3 over very low heat, letting the bottom brown and crisp — but making sure it doesn’t burn. Flip and continue cooking on other side. Remove from pan and repeat.

Serve pancakes with sour cream or Indian raita (yogurt and cucumber sauce). Or eat it simply as is.

Oven roasted naked fish

I thought I’d use the word “naked” to get your attention Actually, by naked I mean really simple fish with nothing but salt and pepper to season it. It sits atop a foundation of beautiful vegetables of your choice and as the whole dish roasts, some of the natural sugars caramelize and combine to meld all the flavors together. You serve it with fresh basil and a drizzle of balsamic brown butter, which adds richness and acidity to the dish.

For fish, I try to choose a sustainable variety such as sablefish (black cod), halibut, or Alaskan salmon (sustainable on the West Coast anyways – you can get a Seafood WATCH list for your region here). For the vegetables, I try to keep it seasonal and often select for color.

Oven Roasted Naked Fish and Vegetables with Balsamic Brown Butter
Time: 20 minutes prep, plus 25 minutes cook time
Servings: 2-3 servings

2-3 fillets of fish such as sablefish, halibut, or salmon (4-5 oz each)
salt and pepper to taste
2 medium zucchinis about 5-6 inches long, sliced 1/3-in. lengthwise
1/2 lb potatoes (I like purple ones for color), sliced 1/4-in. rounds
1 c. cherry tomatoes
1/2 medium onion, roughly sliced lengthwise
1 lb. sliced mushrooms, whichever you like, pan-seared
Drizzle of olive oil
3 TBSP unsalted butter
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Season the fish with salt and pepper and set aside. Usually, I take a pinch of salt and sprinkle over one side of the fillet. Repeat on the other side.

In a oven-proof baking dish, lay zucchini on bottom and add potatoes, tomatoes, and onions over it. Take a pinch of salt and sprinkle liberally over veggies. Drizzle olive over it and roast for 10 minutes or so.

While this is roasting, you can pan-sear the mushrooms and set aside.

After 10 minutes or so, check on roasted veggies. It should be starting to caramelize by this time. Add the pan-seared mushrooms to the baking dish. Lay the fish fillets on top and roast for another 10-15 minutes depending on size of fish.

Meanwhile, in a small stainless steel sauce pan, heat the butter over medium heat until the milk solids begin to turn brown and a nutty aroma emerges (hence the term noisette, which means hazelnut, in brown butter’s french translation beurre noisette). You want it a toasty brown, but not too brown. It will continue cooking for a minute off the heat, so remove it as soon as it starts to turn color. Cover top of the sauce pan with a paper towel and, holding up a corner, add the balsamic vinegar. When it stops sizzling, you can remove the paper towel and stir around the final balsamic brown butter together.

Remove the oven roasted fish and vegetables. Let rest a few minutes and serve with a tablespoon of balsamic brown butter drizzled over the fish and vegetables and torn fresh basil leaves for garnish.

Sunchoke and potato soup

Sunchokes, otherwise known as Jerusalem artichokes, are my favorite new root vegetable. They are neither artichokes (though of the same Daisy family) nor from Jerusalem (actually they’re native to Eastern Unites States; “Jerusalem” could be a variation of the Italian word, girasole, meaning sunflower). It has a delicate flavor and a crisp texture, even when cooked. I usually start seeing them at the market in summer, which is perfect soup weather, given how cold San Francisco gets in the summer. For more on the sunchoke, check out this overview.

Below is my modified recipe along with my game plan to help you manage the soup successfully. Being soup, it’s best to make a huge vat and reheat during the week (I mean, why to all the work for one serving of soup?). The trickiest part is prepping the sunchokes, which are small, gnarly roots of a usually pale brown to white color. They’re as gnarly as ginger and range in size from a small knob to something the size of red bliss potatoes. Hint: get the biggest ones you can find and make sure they’re hard and firm.

Cream of Sunchoke and Potato Soup
Serves: 4 to 6

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients
1.25 lbs. sunchokes
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (3-4 in long)
1/4 cup olive oil (optional)
1/4 lb chopped bacon
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (half a medium sized onion usually)
1/4 cup finely chopped carrot (half a carrot usually)
1/4 cup finely chopped celery (half a stalk usually)
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp. pimentón (or paprika)
3 thyme sprigs
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (preferably low-sodium broth)
1/4 cup light cream (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Gameplan
The directions offer you a step-by-step method for preparing the soup, assuming you do all the chopping before you start cooking. I prefer to do things simultaneously whenever possible to be more efficient. So, if you’re adept with the knife, consider this game plan.

- Peel potatoes and sunchokes, adding to bowl of cold water as you finish them, and set aside.
- Chop the bacon next and while it’s rendering, chop the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. They don’t have to be too finely chopped (remember, you’ll be pureeing them).
- While the mirapoix (onion, celery, and carrot combination, classic soup base) is cooking, cut sunchokes and potatoes into slices, starting with the sunchokes (they take longer to cook).
- While the soup is simmering in the final step, you can prepare the mushrooms for garnish.

Directions
Fill a large bowl with cold water. Peel potatoes and sunchokes and add to water bowl. Set aside. Fill another bowl with ice cold water. Working with the sunchokes first, chopped into thin slices. Add them to the ice water to preserve. Chop up the potatoes into thin slices as well and add to ice cold water.

Heat a large enameled, cast-iron casserole and add in chopped bacon. When the bacon is cooked, remove half and set aside. There should be enough bacon fat rendered to cook the vegetables. If there isn’t, add some olive oil (or if you prefer to use just olive oil, remove all the bacon and fat, heat up 1/4 cup olive oil and add the bacon back in with the vegetables).

Add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and pimento or paprika and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the sunchokes and potatoes add them to the casserole along with the thyme and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the white wine and boil until almost evaporated. Add 4 cups of chicken stock to the casserole and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. [Sunchokes are a fairly crisp root vegetable. Even tender, it retains more of a bite than potatoes, which soften and almost melts in your mouth.]

Discard the herb sprigs. Optional: Add the light cream and bring to a simmer.

In a blender or food processor, puree the soup until smooth (in batches as necessary, with some of the liquid). Add it back to the casserole and bring to a simmer again. If the soup is too thick, add another half cup of stock or water. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with preferred garnish (see below).

Tips
- A blender will give you a finer puree than a food processor. My Vitamix blender is da bomb!
- I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes because they have an innately creamy texture, hence I usually skip the cream.
- The soup can be made a day in advance. It can be served hot or cold.
- Garnish with remaining bacon bits, chopped chives, and a dollop of crème fraiche.
- Garnish with finely chopped cilantro/coriander and chili oil.
- Garnish with white truffle oil and small handful of pan-seared mushrooms, such oyster, chanterelles, or trumpet.