After many attempts to make pasta from scratch without a pasta machine, I finally gave up. I could never get the dough thin enough, which resulted in bowls of thick, chewy noodles that didn’t catch sauce well. I will wait until better financial times to spring for a machine, but in the meantime, I decided to try a pasta that doesn’t require creating near-paper thin sheets of dough: gnocchi.
Gnocchi are small dumplings that are typically made from either potato or ricotta, along with egg and a bit of flour. Common gnocchi variations include sweet potato, pumpkin, and potato with spinach, but you can experiment with just about any starchy vegetable. They’re best when matched with a light marinara sauce or pesto, as they can be a heavy meal. Here’s a recap. » Read the rest of this entry «