Crazy Awesome Gnocchi, And It's Gluten-Free

As most of you who follow our blog know, we have moved back to my home town. My parents have 3 acres just outside of town that I can only describe as magical, especially this time of year. They have an incredible garden that grows more food than the two of them can eat, so I went to the store and bought a few things to make this dish, then picked the rest. Fresh potatoes, peas, and onions. Farm-fresh eggs from the "neighbors" who live half a mile away. Mmmmm. Can you tell I love Idaho?

 

9 medium potatoes
1.5-ish cup gluten-free all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 egg yolks
6 strips of thick, peppered bacon
3 tbsp butter
10 sage leaves, torn into small-ish pieces
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup peas
8 oz fontina cheese, cut into cubes
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Salt & Pepper

If you watched the video, you see it's pretty simple. Peel your potatoes and boil them until a knife moves clean through the potato when you poke it. Drain the potatoes and let them cool. Pass them through a food mill or potato ricer. Lay the potato stuff on your work surface, sprinkle 1.5 cups of flour on top, add the egg yolks, couple pinches of salt and pepper. Mix by hand, kneading gently to form a smooth dough (add more flour if needed). Cut dough into 6 semi equal pieces, roll into balls. Then just use your hands to roll the dough into long, thin strips about 3/4 inch thick and cut into pieces about 1 inch. Doesn't need to be perfect, and you don't need to do that fork thing that puts marks in them. Nobody cares about that. Lay all the pieces out evenly on a sheet pan and dust with more flour. Make sure they aren't sticking together.

Preheat your oven to 475. Fill a pot with water, a few pinches of salt and a couple drizzles of olive oil - bring that to a boil. While that's coming up to heat, in a separate, large frying pan (or multiple frying pans if you don't have one large enough to hold all the gnocchi at one time), cook your bacon then chop it up. Drain most of the grease, leaving only a little bit. Add your butter, sage, and onion. Sauté for a bit. to get soft. Add your garlic, mushrooms and peas and just let that go on medium low heat, tossing every so often while you deal with the gnocchi.

Add your gnocchi to the boiling water a bit at a time. They'll sink to the bottom at first, but will begin popping back up to the top pretty quick. Once they rise to the top, let them cook for another 90 seconds or so. Remove them with a slotted spoon, let the water drain off a bit, then put them straight into the pan with your butter and sage and other stuff. Toss around a bit. Once you have the gnocchi in your pan, add your fontina cheese and let that melt down, tossing your gnocchi to coat a little (won't fully coat). The gnocchi may stick to the bottom of the pan. Don't sweat it - not a big deal. Top with parmesan and bacon, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper. In the oven, on the top rack.

It's done once the cheese starts browning and looking at it makes you think, "Holy crap I just made that. I am so the (wo)man."

Now even though I'm writing today, I still can't guarantee a steady blogging schedule yet. But don't you worry - I'll be back at it as soon as possible, sharing things here and there. Check ya laterz.