02.17.12_Chickpea Gnocchi Peperonata

I had had this recipe for Chickpea Gnocchi Peperonata on our recipe list since we started the blog back in August. For some reason we kept pushing it off until I finally decided it was time. After having a somewhat successful first attempt at gnocchi when I made Gnocchi with Thyme Butter I thought I would give this a shot. Unfortunately, the blog that had the original recipe was in French, so I had to do the best I could with Google Translate. I had to convert from metric and some of the translation just made no sense so this was a bit of a struggle.

Basically for this recipe all I had to do was mix a cup of chickpeas with 2 eggs and salt in the food processor. After it was smooth, I added the wet ingredients to the flour. I kneaded the dough, then let it sit for an hour in the fridge, covered. While the gnocchi dough was resting, I did all the prep work. I diced a red, green, and yellow bell pepper, a red onion, and a tomato. The recipe called for friarelli peppers, which I believe in America are banana peppers, so I left them out because I do not like their flavor and subbed the green bell pepper instead. I sauteed the peppers and onions then added a 1/4 TBSP of water to the mix and simmered for about 20 minutes. Next, I added the tomato, raisins, and leftover chickpeas. I cooked the mixture for another 10-15 minutes and then set aside when it was done.

Once the dough had sit for an hour, I cut it into four equal parts and rolled them out into long ropes. I marked the dough with a fork to create ridges then cut the ropes into inch long pieces. I dropped the gnocchi into boiling water and after the rose to the top of the water, let it cook for another 2-3 minutes before taking it out. I then tossed the hot gnocchi with the peperonata and it was ready to eat!

The gnocchi came out really tough for this recipe. I'm not sure if I didn't follow the recipe exactly or if parts of the steps were just lost in translation but it was not light and pillowy like my last gnocchi. I compared recipes and there was a lot more flour in this recipe so I'm not sure if that was it. I was worried about the flavor of the peperonata but it was actually delicious. The raisins seemed like an odd addition when reading the recipe but they gave a nice sweetness to the dish. 

08.22.11_Gnocchi with Thyme Butter Sauce

Gnocchi is one of those things I've always wanted to try and make from scratch but have been to afraid to after watching years of Food Network and seeing how easily it can go from light fluffy pillows to dense pasty muck. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and since Phillip had only had it once before he probably wouldn't know the difference. I figured Giada would be the go to person on gnocchi and found her recipe for gnocchi with thyme butter sauce. I read through the recipe and was confused when I read, "Roll each piece of dough over a wooden paddle with ridges." I decided to Google "wooden paddle with ridges" and a gnocchi paddle came up. Of course there is such thing as a paddle specifically for scoring gnocchi. What was I thinking? The best part was if you clicked on Amazon's link for wooden paddle with ridges, Giada's cookbook comes up as another search result. Convenient.

Anyhow, I had also never made brown butter before and was nervous to try this because it can quickly go from brown to burnt. Luckily my obsessive checking on the butter paid off and I did not burn it. I was in for a surprise, however, when I added the thyme to the butter. I removed the melted butter from the heat like the recipe says to, added the thyme, and then what sounded like firecrackers erupted in my kitchen. I'm not sure if it was the water inside the thyme or what but it scared the crap out of me. I looked this up later to see if this was common and couldn't find anything so who knows. If you do decide to make this recipe, just be prepared for loud crackling when you add the thyme just in case!

The dough.

The dough after being scored.

Gnocchi prior to being cooked.

The finished product!

The dough was was easy to make and fun to play with. I couldn't believe how exact the recipe was (3 tablespoons of beaten egg, discard the rest). After rolling it out into the long, thin tubes, I scored the dough with a fork (since I didn't own a Gnocchi Paddle...shoot) and cut the dough into inch-long pieces. Cooking the pasta was easy enough as well, just drop into the water, wait for them to rise to the surface and then wait another four minutes. I put the gnocchi directly into the thyme butter sauce and this is where I had a bit of a problem. I wanted to toss the gnocchi in the sauce to make sure all sides had been coated with the sauce. They began to fall apart a little when tossing which frustrated me because they had looked so good before hand. Some reviews online seem to have had a similar problem and one reviewer claims that the recipe did not call for enough flour.

Besides the tossing of the gnocchi that did not go so well, I was very impressed with how easy the recipe was. The gnocchi tasted great and I enjoyed having a different sauce for them. One other side note is that this did not make very much. I'm not sure who Giada is feeding but there is no way that this is 4-6 servings. Phillip and I finished the entire pot of gnocchi in one seating on top of the salad and garlic bread I served it with, and I don't eat that much! So you may want to double this if you want leftovers or are making this for more than two people. Maybe that's why Giada is so tiny because she only eats six pieces of gnocchi for dinner.