Gnocchi Dokie...

So tonight's culinary adventure was gnocchi in a leek, mushroom, and spinach sauce.  It was actually a recipe from Fabio on Top Chef...

...and now I know why Fabio is on Top Chef and I am... NOT! 

So turns out gnocchi is not the hardest thing in the world to make.  But it is incredibly hard to make it right and make it taste good.  If you're not sure what gnocchi is, which I did not until a few days ago, it is basically an Italian dumpling made of potatoes.  Or as some like to call it, "a heavenly pillow."  Maybe when Fabio makes it... :)

You have to crush up cooked potatoes until their are not any lumps.  Easy, apparently, if you have a pasta press.  Not so easy if you don't.  First mistake.

Then you mix in an egg, parmesan cheese, some spices, and some flour.  Fabio's recipe assumed you already knew how to basically make gnocchi... which I did not...  so I had to google it.  Well, Fabio's recipe called for 3 cups of flour, one on allrecipes.com called for 2, and another one called for only 1 (all with the same amount of potato, mind you).  So I only added one because this seemed right.  Second mistake... well, maybe since I don't know if adding more flour would be any better.

You cook the gnocchi much like ravioli.  Quickly in boiling water until they pop to the top.  Approximately 3-5 minutes.  Easy enough... unless you have what seems like a million other things going on in the kitchen (including trying to start my little pots of homemade herbs thanks to Katie).  Then, it's easy to accidently over cook them.  And they turn into a mushy mess.  Third mistake.

The sauce that I then added them to (the term "sauce" being used lightly since it didn't have much liquid) was tasty.  It reinforced the idea that leeks are delicious... and was surprised that Fabio's call for maple syrup was not as crazy as it sounded.  But alas, a good sauce could not save the gnocchi.

It wasn't exactly that they were bad... just not that good.  They tasted more like they should have spaghetti sauce on them... which I might try since the recipe made more that I thought I could handle in the sauce.

So that is that.  Fabio is a Top Chef.  Erica is not.  :)

But I might try again... after doing a little more research on what they actually should be like.

It was fun to try.

Next up:  Chicken Marsala... which should probably not be as difficult.  :)