Ever since I can remember, one of my very favorite dishes has been flavorful knots of handmade potato pasta– a simple recipe handed down from my firey Italian Great Grandma Jenny Andriola– yet another blessing of being an Irish-Italian multicultural American mutt.

What I didn’t know at the time, is that potato ghocchi are a remarkable staple food in many cultures and they first appear in recipe books at the birth of the Renaissance in northern Italy (though it is widely believed they originated hundreds of years before this). In Argentina, the 29th of every month is referred to as “Gnocchi Day.” Because the dish is inexpensive and hearty and the 29th falls at the end of the month (when people are typically at their poorest) it is tradition to put a peso coin under the plate of gnocchi– a finished plate being a symbol of financial well-being for the next month.

My memory of gnocchi, typically around the holidays, takes place at the “center island,” a kitchen counter in our home growing up where we would mound two mountains of riced potato and flour into dough and then “roll snakes” to be sliced, dimpled  and lathered in my dad’s meaty homemade tomato sauce. Because they freeze remarkably well (and my brothers and I enjoy eating) these were always fun to make the weeks running into Christmas.

There’s some debate over what the consistency of a gnocchi “should” be. In reality, gnocchi vary from light and pillowy to chewy and dense as a matter of preference, where many try to find a comfortable balance between the two. Most gnocchi in American Italian restaurants lean toward the soft, albeit mushy consistency of a high potato to flour ratio. Today, I’ll be making gnocchi of three different consistencies using the same set of ingredients– and you can decide what is right for you!

Today I’m going to try baking (as opposed to boiling) the potato to limit the water content in the dough. This will enable me to use less flour for the lighter pillow batch. I am also going to texture the gnocchi individually by dimpling over a fork and “riveting” the surface for better traction of cheese and salt in the final product. In some traditions, people will use a “gnocchi board” to give the dumplings an even more textured surface.

Russet (Idaho) Potatoes

• Ingredients today include ten beautiful Russet Potatoes, a five pound bag of a flour, and some ground sea salt. To start, wash  your 10 potatoes like a Japanese snow monkey and mix a few pinches of salt into your flour.
• To bake or to boil? – Some chefs swear by baking the potato while others insist on boiling. General rule of thumb: if you are going for a very light gnocchi and consider chewy gnocchi a damned project, you’ll find that baking greatly reduces the amount of added water to your mixture and enables you to use less flour. The downside is that you end up discarding more potato because you have to cut away anything hardened or charred (the upside of course being bacon-cheddar potato skins for a later day). If you are comfortable with a chewier gnocchi, by all means, boil them and then scrape away the skins with the blunt end of a knife. For the sake of this project, I’m baking all ten potatoes. Be sure to puncture with a fork to release steam.
• Rice the potatoes into a pile next to 5 cups of the flour.

Riced potato and 5 cups of flour

• Now for the fun part. While the potato is still warm, start “folding” the riced potato and flour together gently. Do not push or knead the dough at this stage or you will make the batch sticky and difficult to work with. You will wind up with a crumbly mixture. Use your hands to pull apart the “clumps” and continue to run the flour and potato through your fingers.

The "Crumbly Mixture"

Now you need to make a decision; this is really the “turning point” for deciding the consistency of your pasta.  I used part of this dough to make a small batch for those who prefer a delicate pillow in the finished product. Potato/Flour ratio affects density, whereas kneading affects chewiness/consistency. For the purposes of this project, I cut the dough into three parts to taste all three:

• Soft, “pillow” gnocchi: If you prefer your gnocchi “light and airy,” then you should carefully integrate the flour and potato with limited kneading– taking care to never let your “crumbly mixture” sit for a prolonged period of time without being fluffed. The dough should be very pliable and easy to work with and you can add flour as needed. If you are more interested in the difficult art of light gnocchi, some suggest a waxier potato like Yukon Golds (as opposed to starchy Russets) and one or two eggs to the batter for cohesion in favor of even less flour.
• Medium density: You can achieve a chewier gnocchi by adding a little more flour. You still don’t want to “overwork” this dough or you will end up with a strange, gummy consistency when cooked.
• Dense (PorterBrew) gnocchi: All bets are off. While kneading, add additional flour until dough has an elastic quality. By folding the dough into itself and adding flour you are developing the gluten. The result will be a harder, chewier gnocchi (it’s recommended you boil for approximately 1-2 minutes longer than the pillows to avoid a “doughy” end product).

Gnocchi "Snakes"

Nothing brings back memories of childhood like gnocchi snakes. Cut the snakes into squares at a 45 degree angle with a sharp knife over a cutting board. While you could technically boil these, traditional gnocchi either have dimples or ridges– and you want to take satisfaction in knowing that every single piece of pasta was individually hand shaped. Over the edge of a fork (being used sans a gnocchi board) roll the gnocchi down with your thumb creating both a dimple and a ribbed surface (there are many tutorial videos on this process). It can take a little practice, but shaping a gnocchi is pretty simple. The result is this:

Shaped Gnocchi

If you’re going to freeze your gnocchi, be sure to freeze them on a pan or plate with the gnocchi separated before you bag them. Gnocchi don’t need to be thawed, you can literally toss them into a rolling boil for 5-6 minutes and you have delicious potato pasta.

Floating to the surface indicates that gnocchi are almost done

The hard parts are over. Gnocchi are very easy to cook. When you add them to boiling water, they will immediately sink to the bottom of the pan so it’s important to lightly stir to avoid sticking. When the gnocchi float to the top, continue to cook for about 1-2 minutes and serve hot. Personally? I like to keep a simple dish simple and serve with olive oil, salt, pepper and grated Parmesan cheese.

Serve Hot and Enjoy!

National Geographic - Shuttle Atlantis

http://www.cnn.com/live/

Shuttle Atlantis is delivering important replacement parts to the International Space Station (ISS) – check it out live today!

From NASA.com:

The STS-129 mission will be commanded by Charles O. Hobaugh and piloted by Barry E. Wilmore. Mission Specialists are Robert L. Satcher Jr., Mike Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. Wilmore, Satcher and Bresnik will be making their first trips to space.  Atlantis and its crew will deliver two control moment gyroscopes, equipment and EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 1 and 2 to the International Space Station. The mission will feature three spacewalks. The mission also will return station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth and is slated to be the final space shuttle crew rotation flight. Atlantis will launch on the STS-129 mission at 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16.

Tune in via: cnn.com/live

If you’re looking for somewhere to take it easy after a rough divorce, layoff or grim diagnosis—Recessions is probably your bar. While the beer selection is okay, what you would really come here for is a $3.50 Miller Lite in a beer mug the size of an Octoberfest growler. Recessions is the ugly redheaded stepchild to its shining, honor-student neighbor “Mackeys” – a plastic paddy sports bar plastered in red paint so thick that it’s practically the Times Square of L Street. Recessions, on the other hand, you would completely miss if you didn’t notice the random door next to its big, sexy and popular neighbor.

Recessions is generally home to local street volunteers, poor interns, non-profit research assistants and vampires. Completely underground, Recessions has the smell of your grandmother’s moldy basement and opens into a dimly lit pool room with stone walls, a vast and elevated rectangular bar area and two greasy pool tables. If you didn’t feel like you were grilling at your uncle’s Pennsylvania townhouse there are industrial garage fans spread throughout the bar to supplement the building’s air conditioning.

The big selling point for a place like this is the 1980s gaming system that includes the family favorite “Nudey photo hunt” where patrons are challenged to point out the differences between two seemingly identical nude photos of pornstars and models now old enough to be your great aunt. On a Tuesday night, Recessions is virtually abandoned with the exception of a few tables and some lonely regulars and suits playing a quick post-work game of darts. Music? In an hour I heard James Taylor, Billy Joel, Van Morrison and Bob Marley.

My vote? Worth checking out for a game of pool and a beer with a few friends. But really? Recessions is home to those who typically like to drink alone.