New painkiller and gnocchi. Not together of course.
Funny, I don't feel much different. Adam says I'm a little fuzzy, but I don't see it at all. I'm fine. I did wait to try it until after I'd made the gnocchi. Oh, yeah, and I made gnocchi today with gorgonzola sauce.
Gnocchi:
2-1/2 lb potatoes
3/4 cup (ish) white flour or potato starch
1 egg, beaten in a small bowl with 1/2 tsp salt
Bake the potatoes. Scoop out the flesh. Keep the skins if you really think you should, for cheesy skins, or toss, it's cool either way. Mill the potatoes through a ricer (you do need a ricer for this; you don't want to over-mash potatoes or they get gluey). Pour in the egg and salt, mix lightly. Add the flour/starch and mix very gently until it comes together; don't over-mix. The more white flour it has in it, the worse the texture will get if you over-handle the dough. Roll it into 1" diameter long ropes with your hands on a floured/starched cutting board, and use a knife to slice it into little 1" pieces, so they're bite-sized.
Here's the fun part: take each piece in one hand, and a normal metal fork in the other. Roll the gnocchi against the back tines of the fork. The gnocchi will curl a little around the tines when you get to the bottom of the fork, which is good. Set the gnocchi down on a tray lined with parchment paper. When you fill the tray, put it in the freezer. Do all the rest of the pieces this way.
When ready to cook:
Get your cream sauce moving first: Put 1 cup heavy cream, 2 tb butter, and a little salt into a saucepan and put over med-high heat. DO NOT LET THIS BOIL OVER as it won't taste right. Keep an eye on it.
While that's warming up, boil a pot of water with salt in it (not too much; gnocchi absorb more than regular pasta does; make it pleasantly salty water but not seawater-strong). Once it boils, put a handful of gnocchi onto a Chinese-style long-handled bamboo strainer sort of tool and lower into the water. Release the gnocchi. Lower the heat. The gnocchi will sink at first, then rise. When it floats, remove it with the strainer and put it on a paper towel. Repeat till you get enough for dinner. Keep the water at a simmer; if it boils, you could disintegrate your gnocchi. By the time the gnocchi are about done, the sauce is going to be reduced considerably; remove from heat and stir in the 1-2 oz gorgonzola cheese till it's melted. Ta-da! If the sauce looks thin, add a spoonful or so of the gnocchi water; the starch'll get it set thicker.
Serve the gnocchi in a nice bowl with oodles of cream sauce on top. Garnish with fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary; sage is also a classic for this dish. I've fried sage leaves in butter before for this and it was very nice, drizzled with the butter and crumbled-up fried sage).
Oh, wait, there's the painkiller. HAHAHA I'm so out of here
EDIT: Don't freeze these gnocchi. Without flour in them, apparently they don't freeze well after all. I tried it today and when I cooked 'em, they disintegrated and I was left with a pot of mashed potatoes.
Gnocchi:
2-1/2 lb potatoes
3/4 cup (ish) white flour or potato starch
1 egg, beaten in a small bowl with 1/2 tsp salt
Bake the potatoes. Scoop out the flesh. Keep the skins if you really think you should, for cheesy skins, or toss, it's cool either way. Mill the potatoes through a ricer (you do need a ricer for this; you don't want to over-mash potatoes or they get gluey). Pour in the egg and salt, mix lightly. Add the flour/starch and mix very gently until it comes together; don't over-mix. The more white flour it has in it, the worse the texture will get if you over-handle the dough. Roll it into 1" diameter long ropes with your hands on a floured/starched cutting board, and use a knife to slice it into little 1" pieces, so they're bite-sized.
Here's the fun part: take each piece in one hand, and a normal metal fork in the other. Roll the gnocchi against the back tines of the fork. The gnocchi will curl a little around the tines when you get to the bottom of the fork, which is good. Set the gnocchi down on a tray lined with parchment paper. When you fill the tray, put it in the freezer. Do all the rest of the pieces this way.
When ready to cook:
Get your cream sauce moving first: Put 1 cup heavy cream, 2 tb butter, and a little salt into a saucepan and put over med-high heat. DO NOT LET THIS BOIL OVER as it won't taste right. Keep an eye on it.
While that's warming up, boil a pot of water with salt in it (not too much; gnocchi absorb more than regular pasta does; make it pleasantly salty water but not seawater-strong). Once it boils, put a handful of gnocchi onto a Chinese-style long-handled bamboo strainer sort of tool and lower into the water. Release the gnocchi. Lower the heat. The gnocchi will sink at first, then rise. When it floats, remove it with the strainer and put it on a paper towel. Repeat till you get enough for dinner. Keep the water at a simmer; if it boils, you could disintegrate your gnocchi. By the time the gnocchi are about done, the sauce is going to be reduced considerably; remove from heat and stir in the 1-2 oz gorgonzola cheese till it's melted. Ta-da! If the sauce looks thin, add a spoonful or so of the gnocchi water; the starch'll get it set thicker.
Serve the gnocchi in a nice bowl with oodles of cream sauce on top. Garnish with fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary; sage is also a classic for this dish. I've fried sage leaves in butter before for this and it was very nice, drizzled with the butter and crumbled-up fried sage).
Oh, wait, there's the painkiller. HAHAHA I'm so out of here
EDIT: Don't freeze these gnocchi. Without flour in them, apparently they don't freeze well after all. I tried it today and when I cooked 'em, they disintegrated and I was left with a pot of mashed potatoes.