Gnocchi party: potato gnocchi with blue cheese sauce

Welcome to the gnocchi party! I am just turning up on time to the party - but in my defense it has been a busy week. My mother-in-law Annette, and her husband Terry, have been visiting, and so we have been out all week (it has been a major eating week!).

A few weeks ago, Penny from Addictive and Consuming rounded up several interested bloggers for a gnocchi party. Everyone was to make gnocchi, following the theme "unami", and post it oh, right about now!

I have never made gnocchi before, but being a carboholic, I love it. The recipe I followed was from The Cook's Companion, and it was very straight forward and easy to make for a gnocchi beginner.

Potato gnocchi with blue cheese sauce

Adapted from the Cook's Companion

Serves 6-8

For the gnocchi:

salt
1 kg potatoes - Stephanie recommends Toolangi delight, desiree or nicola
300g-325g plain flour

For the blue cheese sauce:

125g blue cheese
1/2 cup milk
20g butter
freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons cream

Give the potatoes a good wash, and then place them in a large pot of water until tender. Drain and peel.



Pass the potatoes through a food mill or ricer directly on to a clean work surface and sprinkle with salt. I don't have a food mill/potato ricer so I used a steamer basket that has large holes. It took AGES. But my arms got a good workout!

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil in preparation for cooking the gnocchi.



With one hand, sprinkle the potato with flour and, using the heel of the other hand, work it in. Be as quick and deft as possible (I wasn't either of these things!). Continue until all the flour is incorporated - I only used 2/3 of my flour. Having never made gnocchi before, I wasn't sure how stiff/sticky it was supposed to be, so I just stopped when it didn't seem to want to take any more flour.



When the cooking water is boiling, roll the potato mixture into a long rope and cut into 1cm pieces.



Roll each piece across the curved side of a fork using one finger to create the traditional shape. I had NO IDEA what I was doing here so my gnocchi were all weirdly shaped!

Lower the heat for the pot of water until it is simmering. Drop in some gnocchi, and wait a few minutes until they rise to the surface. Lift them out with a slotted spoon, drain for a moment over the pot, and tip into a bowl (into a warmed oven to keep warm if you're making lots). Repeat with the remaining gnocchi.

I served the gnocchi with a blue cheese sauce. The sauce should be hot on the stove while you're cooking the gnocchi. Here's the recipe for the sauce:

Combine the cheese, milk, butter and pepper in a heavy-based frying pan over a gentle heat and cook until thick and creamy. Add the cream, increase the heat a little, and cook, stirring, until the sauce starts to thicken. Keep warm while you cook the gnocchi.



When all the gnocchi is cooked, pour the sauce over it, shake gently and serve.

For my first time making gnocchi, I was rather pleased with them. They were (relatively!) light, and delicious with the blue cheese sauce. I did find the sauce rather strong so a bit less blue cheese or less sauce over the gnocchi would be a good idea next time. And I'm sure there will be a next time - since I now know how easy gnocchi is to make. I might buy a potato ricer first though!

Check out the other gnocchi party attendees:

Gnocchi Gnudi made by our lovely host, Penny from Addictive & Consuming
Braised Beef Short Ribs Adobo on Potato Gnocchi made by Divina from Sense & Serendipity
Pan-fried Pumpkin Gnocchi with Truffle Paste and Basil made by Mardi from Eat, Live, Travel, Write
Chocolate-filled Plantain Gnocchi, with chillies for Dessert made by Ozoz from Kitchen Butterfly
Malfatti a la Al Di La made by Trix from Tasty Trix
Tuna & Anchovy sauce gnocchi with roasted vegetables made by Conor from Hold the Beef
Gnocchi di Patate con Funghi e Salvia made by Mellie from Tummy Rumbles
Gnocchi Chicken Tikka made by Shirley from Enriching your kid
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Nori Butter made by Natasha from Five Star Foodie
Gnocchi in creamy mushroom sauce made by Christine from Christine's Recipes

Zucchini and feta rice tarts

I had some cooked rice left over the other week. Normally, I would make fried rice, which is always quick and tasty. I tried something a bit different though, and tried making rice tarts with an eggy filling (like a quiche).

I mixed up the cold rice with an egg and then pressed it into large muffin moulds, using a glass to press it down nice and flat. However, my largest muffin moulds are silicon, so the rice didn't really crisp up the way I was expecting/wanting. Actually, the rice that was next to the silicon (ie the sides and the bottom) stayed completely soft. You may notice that the tart in the background, particularly in the photo below, is a bit wonky - that's because I had trouble getting it out of the mould without damaging it! Oh well, there's my lesson learned - should've used metal moulds/trays.

Despite the soft rice, it tasted okay, although I could've been more generous with the salt.



Zucchini and feta rice tarts

Makes 6 small tarts or 1 large one

For the rice tarts

2 cups left over cold rice
1 egg
Salt and pepper

For the filling

1 small zucchini
1/2 small capscium
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Feta
Salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 200°C .

Season your rice very well with salt and pepper, then mix in an egg. Lightly oil a large muffin/tart tin. Divide the rice amongst the muffin moulds and press down well, using a glass to get it nice and flat and to help create the sides. Pop it into the oven and cook for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate the zucchini and capscium into a bowl. Add the eggs and mix together. Season well with salt and pepper.

Pour into the baked rice tarts, top with feta and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the egg is set.

Eggplant, basil and feta rolls

I have had a strange relationship with eggplant throughout my life. When I was a young child, I loved eggplant. I couldn't get enough of it. Then one day I stopped liking it. I despised it, I hated the soft texture, the taste, the way it sometimes stings the tongue. And then, suddenly, when I got past my teens, I liked it again.



Maybe one day my love/hate eggplant relationship will switch again, but right now I'm in an I Love Eggplant phase. I prepared these eggplant, basil and feta rolls the other week and served them with salad. Not only was it a very satisfying dinner, but it was also a dinner chock full of vegies. I roasted the rolls with some home made tomato sauce, but you could also serve the rolls without sauce as nibbles.



To make them, thinly slice the eggplants lengthways. Brush lightly with oil, then put under a grill for 5 minutes or so until they soften and brown a little. Flip the eggplant slices over, brush with oil and put under the grill again. Let the eggplant cool slightly. Place a basil leaf and a spoon full of feta on the edge of each eggplant slice. Roll up the eggplant and secure – I tied them up with chives but you could just use toothpicks. You can eat them at this stage or you can roast them with sauce.

Note – if you are going to put some sauce on top and roast in the oven, leave out the basil when rolling up the eggplant and instead scatter on top once it's served.