A Hungry Bear

I love going to Las Vegas for UFC fights.  When I’m there, I usually try out a new steakhouse (in my ongoing quest to find the best steak in the world - an indulgent life goal). So far, I haven’t found a steak any better than Bone’s right here in Atlanta. But, the most memorable dish of all of the places I’ve tried in Vegas was the gnocchi side at n9ne steakhouse. The server actually described them as “pillows of love” - my boyfriend and I laughed at what we thought was his dramatic overstatement, but we still ordered them. And they really were the lightest, smoothest, melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi I’ve ever tried - by far overshadowing everything else at the table. I doubt if my homemade version will ever be that good, but after reading many articles and tips on gnocchi, I think I’m on the right track.

This makes about 24 ounces gnocchi, or 4-6 servings. I froze them in 2 12-ounce batches.  Adapted mainly from Lidia Bastianich’s Lidia’s Italy and Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook.

Ingredients: 2 large russet potatoes (2 pounds total), 2 cups flour, 1 egg, 1 Tablespoon kosher salt, pinch each ground white pepper and nutmeg. Special equipment: potato ricer; pastry scraper.

Bake the potatoes in a 350 degree oven for an hour, or until they are done (fork tender). Fluff tip #1: use a towel to handle the potatoes while they’re still hot - the hotter they are when you rice them, the lighter the gnocchi will be.

Clean off the counter - this will get messy. Cut the potatoes in half. Scoop out the flesh and press through a potato ricer.

When you’ve cleaned out all the potatoes, you should have a nice mound of barely-warm potato bits on the counter.

In a small bowl, whisk a pinch of nutmeg and white pepper with the egg, along with 1 Tablespoon of kosher salt.

Put the 2 cups of flour in a pile right next to the potatoes. Make a well in the center of the pile of potatoes, and pour in the egg. Fluff tip #2: work fast. If you take too long and overwork the dough, it will get denser and chewier.

Using a pastry scraper (or the flat side of a large spatula), quickly cut the egg mixture into the potatoes to blend it.

Start to scrape in the flour, a little bit at a time. Keep cutting it to blend the flour into the dough.

When the dough starts to get sticky, you can use your hands. Keep pulling in more flour and kneading the dough until you have used almost all of it - the dough should be smooth and only a little sticky on the outside.

Form the dough into a ball. Spread more flour around so you can work with the dough without it sticking to the counter.

Cut about a quarter of the dough away, and roll it into a long rope about 1/2 inch thick. Do this by rolling the dough back and forth between your palm and the counter, moving up and down the length of the rope - as you roll it with gentle pressure, it will get longer and thinner.

Cut the rope into 1/2 inch pieces. This is when you would roll each gnocchi around a gnocchi paddle or the tines of a fork, to give it ridges. I experimented with this, but for the most part kept the gnocchi looking like little squares (this is the way I remember them looking at n9ne). I don’t think it changes the outcome in terms of flavor or fluffiness, but a little oblong shape with ridges is more traditional.

Place the formed gnocchi on a floured rimmed baking sheet. Continue with the remainder of the dough, rolling out ropes and cutting and forming the gnocchi. Place the baking sheet in the freezer. When the gnocchi are completely frozen, you can transfer them into freezer-safe bags for storage. Most sources I checked with advise cooking the gnocchi when they’re frozen, so they won’t stick together.