Homemade pasta was a hit guys but it can be so damn time consuming and a little tricky to get done on a plane, I wanted to roll out this other WAY easier option with just as much “WOW factor” for you guys to try on your next 2+ hour flight.
Gnocchis have a reputation for being time consuming because you have to boil the potatoes, rice them, mash then with flour and eggs blah blah blah.
BUT WHAT IF YOU COULD JUST SKIP THE POTATOES ENTIRELY?!
NO BOILING
NO RICING
LETS SUBSTITUTE THOSE POTATOES’ B*TCH ASSES
….. meet my darling, beloved, versatile ingredient, RICOTTA.
Ricotta is beautiful. Its creamy, not a ton of flavor, but serves as a vessel to enhance the flavors around it with the humility that very few other cheese’s possess. Yes, this cheese is humble, but it delivers and can be the perfect substitute for a potato gnocchi. In fact, I think it makes it even more “pillow-like” texture but with 80% less work.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 cup ( 4 ounces) of ’00’ flour or Semolina Flour
- 3/4 cup ( 1 ounce) freshly-grated Parmesan
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
What is Semolina Flour or ’00’ Flour?
Coarse, purified wheat middlings of durum wheat mainly used in making pasta. The word semolina can also refer to sweet dessert made from semolina and milk.
Directions
- Combine Ricotta and Egg yolks, mix lightly
- Add in flour, parmesean, salt and pepper
- Stir until evenly combined, the dough should be wet, but manageable to shape, if its too wet, toss a little more flour in there
- Cover your galley surface with Glad wrap for easier cleanup, secure with tape if needed
- Plonk your dough onto your galley counter and lightly flour the surface to prevent sticking
- Taking small chunks of the dough, begin rolling into a snake like shape ( Remember when you would play with Play-doh !!)
- Using a knife, cut 1″ pieces off your “snake dough”
- You do not have to give your gnocchis texture, you can leave those pillow dumplings as is and stunning, I personally like a little texture because it holds the sauce better! Therefore, using two forks, I rolled the dumplings along the back edge of the fork.
- Because I do not have a portable induction cooktop on my plane, I make use of what I can. What I have working WITH me is the fact that fresh pasta cooks SO fast, especially gnocchis. They even have the damn courtesy to tell you when they are done by rising to the top of the hot water. So basically I submerge them in a large pyrex of boiling hot water and microwave for about 1 minute. Work in intervals for microwave time!
- Once you have your darling dumplings of Ricotta Gnocchis drained form the pasta water, the sauce world is your oyster, keep it classic with a red sauce, break out the pesto, brown butter those little b*tches, YOU DO YOU!!!
Gnocchi Fork Rolling from jamie gibson on Vimeo.
Check out the [Plane]made pasta HERE !!
