Potato Gnocchi with Basil Pesto

Mmmmm... gnocchi.

Gnocchi is the Italian version of dumplings, and they are delicious. The best gnocchi are light and fluffy. Too often you see dense and heavy gnocchi, and are the kind that just sit in your stomach like a brick. But, the recipe below, which is an adaptation of a Cook's Illustrated recipe, is not that way. Properly made, it is wonderfully light and quite pleasant.

Here are some tips:

• Once you add the flour, do not overknead the gnocchi. This is key because the more you knead the gnocchi dough, the tougher it gets, and less light and fluffy it will be to eat. In fact, I barely knead it all - I mostly just try to mix until the ingredients come together.
  
• Use a potato ricer instead of a masher. This is actually quite important unless you just destroy the potatoes with the masher. The reason why is that it is very difficult to roll the gnocchi into a long strings if there are any lumps at all. Hence, using a ricer is important. Also, it helps the potatoes cool more quickly.
• Do not boil or steam the potatoes. Instead, bake. I know that boiling and steaming is a more conventional form of cooking potatoes, but you don't want to add any more water than you need to the potatoes. One of the tricky parts of gnocchi is getting the dough to the right consistency, and added water by boiling/steaming makes this much harder to do. Also, you'll have to add more water make the dough the right consistency, and that means you'll be making tougher gnocchi.
• Start with less flour and add more only if needed. The ideal consistency is one that holds together well, but does not stick to the rolling surface. It should almost be tacky, but not really sticky. The ability to judge the appropriate level of sticky-ness comes really only through experience. (If you bake breads from scratch, you'll have a leg up).
  
• Keep the work surface very clean. Dough obviously sticks to hands. But, dough really sticks to other dough. So, use a metal scrapper or anything you can to keep your rolling surface as clean as you can. I usually scrape it totally clean between batches.
  
• Practice, practice, practice. Let making anything recipe that involves a dough, only through practice will you get really good at making gnocchi. It is somewhat of an art because you have to learn how to judge the consistency and wetness of the dough. But, you can learn it through practice.

Anyways, enough comments! Here is the recipe! It serves about 4.

2 lb russet potatoes
1 egg
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

4 ounces fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1 ounce pine nuts, lightly toasted
4 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces parmiggiano-reggiano, grated
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt, to taste

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake potatoes until a metal skewer slides easily through them, 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on size.

Hold potato with a pot holder or kitchen towel and peel it with a vegetable peeler or paring knife. Rice peeled potato into a large bowl. Peel and rice remaining potatoes. Cool until potatoes are no longer hot, about 15 minutes.

Sprinkle 1 1/4 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt over warm potatoes. Using your hands, work mixture into a soft, smooth dough. If dough is sticky (which is often the case), add more flour as needed, up to 1 1/2 cups total.

Roll about one-quarter of dough into a long 3/4-inch-thick rope. If rope won’t hold together, return it to bowl with remaining dough and work in more flour as needed. Repeat until all dough is rolled. Cut each rope of dough into 3/4-inch lengths. Let the gnocchi rest while you make the pesto

Put the basil, garlic and pine nuts into a food processor. You may need to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your processor bowl. Turn the processor on and slowly drizzle in the olive oil (or half the oil, if doing two batches). Once all of the basil is processed, put the mixture into one bowl and add in the parmiggiano and black pepper. Taste the mixture and see if it needs salt. If it does, only a little and then taste again. The reason why is that the parmiggiano brings a lot of salt to the mixture, so the pesto will need less than you think.

Bring 4 quarts of water to low boil in large pot. Add 2 teaspoons salt or to taste. Add about one-third of the gnocchi and cook until they float, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes (about 3 minutes for frozen gnocchi). Retrieve gnocchi with slotted spoon and transfer to warm, shallow serving bowl or platter. Repeat cooking process with remaining gnocchi. Gently toss gnocchi with pesto and serve immediately.

Eggs Benedict!

Well, this is (I think) my first posting of something that is actually on the list of things I'd like to learn how over the next couple of years! Eggs Benedict! (and, more importantly, the hollandaise sauce). A hollandaise sauce is an emulsion of egg yolks and butter, and it is delicious. It is also one of the classic French "mother" sauces from which many, many other sauces are derived.

As a huge fan of Eggs Benedict, I am definitely very excited about this posting (rather, I was excited to eat my creation...). The recipe, on the whole, isn't terribly difficult, but the timing of it is somewhat challenging. The main reason why is that, ideally, all four elements of the finished product (i.e., the english muffin, the canadian bacon, the poached egg, and the hollandaise sauce) are all at the correct temperature. I'll explain as I go.

Tips for poaching the eggs:

• Use very fresh eggs for the poached eggs. If you can't see the difference between the "thick" part of the whites and the "thin" part of the whites, then the egg yolks may break when you put them into the water.
• Do not crack the eggs directly into the pan - use a ladle or cup to gently lower them into the hot water. This again helps prevent the eggs from breaking.
• Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon. This will drain the eggs so that whatever you put the eggs into won't be watery.

Tips for making the hollandaise sauce:

• Use a thermometer to judge the temperature of the butter and the egg mixture. Eggs will curdle at 150 degrees, so it is imperative to make sure neither the butter nor the egg mixture goes above 145. If it starts to approach 150, immediately take the bowl off the heat and let it cool. You will be able to tell if the sauce is too hot b/c the sauce will appear grainy.
• Always whisk vigorously once you begin adding the butter. If you stop for even a little, there is a good chance that the sauce will rise in temperature and the sauce will curdle. Which does not make for tasty hollandaise.
  
• The sauce, when finished, will be lemony-yellow in color and have a satiny smooth texture. It should have a luster, but not appear oily.
  
• The sauce will about triple in volume after all of the butter has been added
• If the sauce is too thick, whisk in a few teaspoons of hot (i.e., 140-145 degree) water or lemon juice.
  
• Hollandaise does not hold well. It needs to be served almost immediately.
  
• Lots of things can be added to a hollandaise for variety. Some classics include tarragon and chervil (bearnaise sauce) and blood oranges (maltaise sauce).
  
• The recipe for the hollandaise, by the way, is here (it is from Emeril). It serves 2-3 people.
  

Anyways, here is the recipe! Enjoy!

1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs (for poaching)

2 egg yolks
1 tsp lemon juice
Dash hot sauce
1 tbsp hot water (approx. 140-145 degrees)
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 stick unsalted butter, melted but quite warm (approx. 140-145 degrees)

2 slices Canadian bacon
2 English muffins, split

Poaching the Eggs:
Heat 3 inches of water in a large saucepan over medium heat until it reaches a bare simmer. Add vinegar and salt. Crack eggs into 2 small cups and slide one by one from the cup into the simmering water. Turn the heat off and cover. Cook until the whites are set and the centers are still soft, approximately 3-5 minutes. Once finished, remove from heat and put in a bowl of ice-cold water. This will stop the cooking process and hold the eggs.

Making the hollandaise:
Set a stainless steel bowl over a pot of water that is creating steaming, but not even simmering yet. Whisk the egg yolks with the lemon juice, hot pepper sauce, and water, until pale yellow in color. Season with salt and pepper. Do not let the bowl touch the water - you only want it in contact with the steam. Remove the bowl from the pot and whisking vigorously, add the butter, 1 teaspoon at a time, until all is incorporated. When you are about half-way through the butter, put a small fry pan on over medium heat and add the canadian bacon. Flip it once after the bottom is nicely browned. Near the end of the butter, toast the muffins.

Putting it all together: Once everything is warm, layer the ingredients from bottom to top: english muffin, canadian bacon, poached egg, hollandaise. Serve immediately.

This is probably one of my all-time favorite breakfast recipes. Enjoy!