Gnocchi with a blue cheese sauce and gnocchi al forno

Gnocchi is one of my favorite meal ever. It is damn simple to make, but like all simple recipe, it needs some practice before reaching decent quality. 

The quality of the potatoes is fundamental. They need to be old, because the older, the softer and thus the better. Old potatoes are soft and just waiting to be mashed.

The first step is to boil the potatoes until they get really soft, the skin must be torn apart. Then you have to peel them very quickly and crush them while still warm.

Add an egg and a little bit of good olive oil in the mash. Add one egg for 500 g of potatoes at maximum. Crush everything until you obtain an homogeneous mixture. 

The next step is to add the flour, it is really hard to say the amount required as it really dependant on the quality of the potatoes. Basically you have to keep adding the flour and kneading the dough until it stop sticking to your finger. Too much and you will fail, so just try to build an homogeneous ball with flour on the outside.

Now you have to shape the gnocchis. First, roll the dough out into a long cylinder of 50 cm long and less than 1 cm diameter. The roll have to be fairly resistant to strain. Then, cut the roll into identical pieces of less than 2 cm long using a fork. (use one of your finger as the template) The whole rolling process is using a lot of flour. 

Put the finished gnocchi in a pan with plenty of flour to prevent them sticking together.

Gnocchi fanatics can do the fork trick. Use the back of the fork to shape the gnocchi with your thumb. It can be a little tricky and is not indispensable. The result is picture below, (the color came from spinach so don't be surprised to have white-yellowish gnocchis)

Cook them in boiling water.

Use a colander to collect the gnocchis when they float on the surface for more than 1-2 mn and put them in a big bowl with olive oil or butter. Try to taste one of them to be sure of the cooking. Gnocchis must melt in your mouth. 

Even if plain gnocchi are delicious, the big sensation with gnocchis is not the taste but the texture, that's why you need a good sauce with them. 

A very popular sauce with pasta or gnocchi or even a good steak is a blue cheese sauce. It is very good and even more easy to prepare.

You need:

• 200 g of blue cheese (Roquefort is strong, Stillton or Danish blue are medium, Gorgonzola is soft so pick your favorite)

• 500 g of creme fraiche, no bloody disgusting fresh cream.

• half a nutmeg

• peppercorn

• Olive oil

Cut the cheese in dices, and make them slowly melt in the cream and the olive oil into a frying pan. Add the peppercorn and the grated nutmeg. Wait until the sauce is homogeneous.

Pour the sauce in the gnocchi and gently stir. That's ready.

What I like with gnocchi sis to do a lot more than I can eat in one meal, I cook them all, and I put the remaining in a pan with a layer of cheese on the top and I cook them in the oven for 30 minutes. Gnocchi al forno are even better...

Bon appetit!

Another of my favorite recipe

Recipe of "tartiflette"