We've been living together for a month now and I've been snapping pictures of new meals we've tried. So, I have a lot of pictures saved up to share. I wasn't sure what would be the best "introductory" plate but I picked my favorite, Italian!! Homemade Gnocchi and homemade bread. Trevor and I have always wanted to try home made bread without a bread machine. My mom makes the best home made muffins and biscuits, I knew I had to try home made bread. We looked up a recipe on my phone (I have a recipes app) and went to Weis. We picked up some yeast, flour, eggs, sugar, salt, etc. Most people would have all this already in their kitchen but considering we've JUST moved out we don't have too much supplies yet. I was really excited to make home made bread but I could tell Trevor was way more excited to make it than I was. I was making dinner, which was home made Gnocchi. I've never had Gnocchi before but it sounded delicious and I like anything that involves potatoes. Especially since we bought a 5lb bag of potatoes at Walmart. Anything that has potatoes was going to be made this week. Trevor decided to take the initiative on the bread and destroyed the kitchen while doing it. Most recipes for bread call for bread flour but we made the mistake and bought regular flour. We had to google a bit and found a recipe (which I will let Trevor post eventually since he has it somewhere on the computer) that allowed us to use regular flour. Trevor and I both worked at a bakery/cafe/cupcakery about six months ago. Trevor worked there for two years and I only worked there for six months before it closed down and turned into a Thai restaurant. We learned SOME tricks for making fresh bread while working there but very little that come in handy in our tiny kitchen. The bread was rising while I began the Gnocchi. I'm a big fan of youtube videos and used this one for directions:
I found this one to be the best because it was short and sweet. I could follow a long easily and the recipe didn't seem too hard. I succeeded in the beginning of making Gnocchi, it wasn't until you're suppose to put it through a ricer that I realized a ricer is not what I thought it was. I tried to use the fork like they suggested but it didn't work out very well. I tried to use a strainer... but that was very difficult! Trevor saw me struggling and suggested we try a cheese grater. Ah, success! The cheese grater worked perfectly and I was able to follow the directions without problems. My Gnocchi turned out to be delicious!
My only complaint was that the sauce I used was NOT home made. The canned sauce was on sale at Weis for a dollar so I bought it. Big mistake. We're both used to home made spaghetti sauce (clearly we're Italian) and that was a let down. I also thought red sauce was too heavy and I think next time I might try a pesto sauce.
Trevors bread turned out great! We were both surprised by the softness and sweetness of the inside. It tasted great with the Gnocchi and we couldn't help but enjoy it a few times since then. Yesterday, he made the bread again and it was great to have with dinner. It even went well with breakfast in which I put some hummus on it (BIG hummus fan over here!) and devoured it.
I'd like to think dinner was a success but I need to work on my sauces. Anyone have any good suggestions for Gnocchi sauces? Do you think red sauce is too heavy with it... or do you prefer it heavy? Let me know your recipes!
-- Nicole
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