Homemade Gnocchi with Sausage

 Ingredients for gnocchi: 

4 russet potatoes (about 3 pounds)

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling and dusting

2 eggs, beaten

salt

Directions: 

1. Poke the potatoes all over to vent. Bake them or microwave them until just soft. In the microwave should be about 10 minutes, turning once. Start your pot of boiling salted water. 

2. Immediately when they are done, use a kitchen towel to peel the potato with a pairing knife. Let cool on a sheet pan. 

3. Grate the potatoes on the small side of the box grater. Spread out over a floured surface. 

4. Season the beaten eggs with salt. Pour the beaten egg mixture over the top of the potatoes and sift 1 cup of flour on top. Begin working with your hands to get the dough to come together. Once you have the flour absorbed, sift another cup of flour and continue to knead. 

5. Knead the dough for about 2 minutes until it comes together. Flour the surface and cut the dough into 4 pieces.  Take one piece and start rolling it out with your hands to make a "rope" of dough. If the dough is too wet here, add a little more flour. When you reach the desired thickness, cut the dough into 1 inch pieces (or the width of your thumb). Make sure to not roll and mix too much. You want a nice fluffy pillow of dough. 

6. Before you move on to the rest of the dough, throw 1-2 gnocchi into boiling water to make sure they cook, float to the top and stay together.  If they fall apart, you need more flour. 

7. If your dough turned out good in the test run, continue on with forming the rest of your gnocchi. Lay them out on a parchment lined sheet pan not touching each other.  You'll have 2 trays of gnocchi here.  If there's just two people eating, you can freeze one tray. Once frozen, place in a freezer bag for next time and you have fresh gnocchi ready in minutes (you can throw frozen gnocchi into boiling water, it will just take a few minutes more to cook). 

8. When your gnocchi floats to the top of salted boiling water, it's done.  Use a spider to pull it out of the boiling water right into your sauce mixture. 

Protein and sauce for today's recipe: 

1 lb of sweet Italian sausage, casing removed and broken into small pieces
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tsp minced garlic
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 TBSP olive oil
1 jalepeno, sliced open, seeds removed

shaved Asiago cheese for topping
Fresh thyme and parsley for garnish

Directions: 

1. Brown the sausage in a wide heavy bottom pan with 1 TBSP olive oil. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. 

2. To the same pan, add another TBSP of olive oil, 1 stick of butter and your jalepeno. Melt over medium low heat. Add all of your seasonings, and your minced garlic. Stir. 

If your gnocchi is ready, drop it in the water now. 

3. Add your sausage to the pan with the butter sauce and warm through. When your gnocchi is done, remove it from the boiling water with a spider and drop it right into the sauce pan.  Toss gently and cook another minute.  

4. Divide into two serving plates. Spoon some additional butter mixture over the top. Garnish with fresh thyme, parsley and asiago.  

Wine pairing: 

Godeval
Godello
White Wine from Valdeorras, Spain
2021