Beware the Gnocchi invasion!!!!!!!!! Best tomato sauce is coming in!!!!!!

The Making
so, as i mentioned in my last post, making potato gnocchi while waiting for the soup is a good way to pass the time. i definitely don't suggest this to anyone who isn't patient and doesn't have a lot of time on their hands. gnocchi are a long process... something like a full movie's worth of time kinda long (and i mean intro AND final credits...) think of this as an exercise of relaxation. get into your gnocchi groove and the time will fly by. i haven't yet cooked them, but in 12 hours, when it's 12:46pm and time for lunch...

gnocchi look like little... and i hate to say it...maggots. white-ish with a ribbed back. nikki totally agrees with me... i was showing her the first photo and we discussed it for a good 5 mins. while that not being so pleasant, i've been assured that they are very good. personally, my run-ins with gnocchi have not been great as i found them very dense and rather flavourless. i'm hoping this batch will change my mind. i plan on cooking up "Tomato sauce with onion and butter" as suggested by the book for lunch tomorrow afternoon and will write about it then.

they are made with 2 things: potato and flour (hence my previous encounters being "dense") and sometimes egg, if necessary. first, the potato is boiled and then milled (or mashed in my case) into a smooth consistency at which point the flour is added and it's all kneeded into a smooth, but sticky ball. then ropes of dough and rolled out and "pillows" are made. each pillow is then rolled along the tines of a fork and voila, gnocchi is born.
i don't know about you, but i almost feel like most of mine look more like a cross between orrecchietti for it's hollow nature, fusili for it's length and gnocchi for it's ribbed nature. i acutally cheated and went in to "form" the ones that didn't look even semi-right...

for those of you who will attempt to try this: (as i hope you all do...)
- give yourself time. lots of time. i didn't realize how long it was taking until the end of the movie started to come along and i still had 25 pillows to "roll".
- know that you'll need lots of clean surface and a pot of flour so as to make sure that you have space to place your growing gnocchi army and it doesn't stick to anything.
- be sure to stick your fork into the flour every few pillows. it'll help avoid making a sticky smear down the tines.
- dirty hands are inevitable so take of all rings BEFORE starting... trust me, i speak from first hand experience...
- if you don't plan on cooking them right after you make them (or within the hour) place them onto floured pans that fit into your freezer and freeze them individually before placing them all into a bag and storing them for future use (otherwise, you'll end up with sticky mounds that won't listen to you as you try and pry them from a previously-floured-but-now-not-so-much table surface)
- expect yourself to feel like a nonna or italian grandmother because i swear, no one does it like this in this century this anymore... it makes you really appreciate the fresh hand-made stuff that you see in the few fresh pasta shops in italy. though, i could see this being a good cooking party thing.,. (ok fine, maybe that's only me)

The Verdict
failure :( i was so hoping that it would work out, but instead, while it was cooking, it turned into a a puddle of soft mushy-ness. looking back, it was probably because i didn't know how much 1.5 lbs of potato equaled in terms of whole pieces and didn't have a scale to measure, but now, despite the amount of time it takes to make them, i'm determined to do it properly. i know now what it's NOT supposed to be like, so i just have to work towards what i DOES have to look like.

as for the sauce... OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!
i can't rave enough about the perfect harmony that is the sauce that i made for the gnocchi. it was so simple, so perfect, so magical. i mean, maybe it's just me, but if there are any of you out there who are blown away by a simple pasta sauce produced at your favourite italian restaurant, this may be it. it's NOT a marinara sauce. it's even more simple than that.
tomato, butter, salt and 1 onion cut in half sit together for 45 mins at a slow simmer to become the a perfection of harmony. i'm going to say that it forms the basis of pretty much any other sauce (at least i think). honestly people, sooooo good. i admit to ditching the gnocchi, toasting a piece of bread and throwing on an over-easy fried egg and calling it a meal. yum....

too bad the gnocchi didn't turn out properly. oh well, i'll make it again and report back any thing i learn.

Zuppa di patata con delle cipolle soffocate

Here to report that one more recipe has been accomplished and put into the repertoire of the dishes i can now make: Potato Soup with Smothered Onion -aka Zuppa di patata con cipolla soffocata or"comfort in a bowl". (hahha, don't things sound better in italian???)

this is another one for those of you who love the mashed potatoes during thanksgiving that have the creaminess of butter and the flavour of onions -yum.

this one actually went down SUPER WELL! without mishaps and without stress. result - absolutely deliciously creamy soup. granted that it took me the better part of an evening, the results were well worth it. i now have homemade soup ready to defrost whenever i need an instant meal.

the basic premises of the soup are 3 ingredients and time: potato, onions and broth (oh, and of course butter) become best friends over the better part of an hour then get squished together to help the creaminess of the soup. the cool this about this is that it doesn't call for a food mill, just a wooden spoon.

some suggestions i'd have for this recipe are:
- cut the amount of butter and oil in half: personally, it was just a little too rich for me
- if you don't have homemade broth, use your favourite canned or cubed beef broth. i think what marcella was going for here was that it should be rather light as you don't want that flavour to over power that of the onions and potatoes

some considerations when making it:
- this recipe takes a while to make and shouldn't be rushed. do it on a lazy saturday or sunday afternoon and make some other stuff (like potato gnocchi!!) while waiting
- when going in to squish the potatoes, wear your dishwashing glove and avoid the possibility of getting burnt with the splashes
- if squishing annoys you, you can always pull out a potato masher (if you have one) and go for a chunky consistency; this is faster, but be sure that the soup isn't bubbling when you do it otherwise you'll definitely get burnt

ok, that's it! hope you enjoy!
(13 down, 506 to go)

p.s. i'll post photos when i can