I was flipping through Molto Italiano last week, looking for nothing in particular, when I spotted a recipe for ricotta gnocchi. I have had past experience with gnocchi-making, and let me say it was not a good one. But those were the potato kind, what most of us think of when we think "gnocchi." (Should we think gnocchi at all.)The ricotta gnocchi seemed easy - mix a few ingredients, make some balls of dough, cook them. Presto! Dinner. But it was a bit more involved than I thought. Even so, they were not difficult and the end result sure was delicious, if I say so myself.
I didn't follow the recipe precisely - I didn't do the sausage and fennel part at all, just the dumplings.
First I had to drain the ricotta overnight. Here it is, post-drainage.
Next I took 1.5 lbs of the drained ricotta and mixed it with two eggs, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 cup of all-purpose flour. A symphony of white. I also added freshly ground pepper and nutmeg.
After mixing, the dough was still a bit sticky, so I added more flour. Didn't want to add too much though, just in case they came out as gut-busting rocks (a.k.a gnocchi). I then "rolled" the dough into balls using about 2 tablespoons of dough each. They're not very pretty, are they?
After I had every blob of dough rolled (well, what I could get off my hands, anyway), I commenced to boiling them. The recipe calls for two boils, one for about 7 minutes and another one for 6. One 8 minute boil turned out light fluffy dumplings that were cooked all the way through.
Here they are, chilling in an ice bath while waiting for the second batch to cook.
And here they are, browned in butter with onion and mushroom, garnished with parmesan cheese, some leftover salami, and fresh chives and basil from the garden. The plates I used (our everyday pasta bowls) are a bit busy, so I highlighted the food so you could see it better.
Though light and fluffy, they were quite filling. With a salad on the side, 5 made quite an ample serving.
First I had to drain the ricotta overnight. Here it is, post-drainage.
Next I took 1.5 lbs of the drained ricotta and mixed it with two eggs, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 cup of all-purpose flour. A symphony of white. I also added freshly ground pepper and nutmeg.
After mixing, the dough was still a bit sticky, so I added more flour. Didn't want to add too much though, just in case they came out as gut-busting rocks (a.k.a gnocchi). I then "rolled" the dough into balls using about 2 tablespoons of dough each. They're not very pretty, are they?
After I had every blob of dough rolled (well, what I could get off my hands, anyway), I commenced to boiling them. The recipe calls for two boils, one for about 7 minutes and another one for 6. One 8 minute boil turned out light fluffy dumplings that were cooked all the way through.
Here they are, chilling in an ice bath while waiting for the second batch to cook.
And here they are, browned in butter with onion and mushroom, garnished with parmesan cheese, some leftover salami, and fresh chives and basil from the garden. The plates I used (our everyday pasta bowls) are a bit busy, so I highlighted the food so you could see it better.
Though light and fluffy, they were quite filling. With a salad on the side, 5 made quite an ample serving. Next time I think I'll try making semolina gnocchi.
Next we have Jamika Pesoa, a personal chef from Atlanta
Not really. She reminds me more of Sandra Lee :::shudder:::
Melissa d'Arabian, a stay-at-home mom from Texas
...and Debbie Lee, a restaurant consultant from West Hollywood, CA.
Now the guys: Brett August from New York
Teddy Folkman, a chef/restaurateur from Alexandria, VA.
The aforementioned Jeffrey Saad, owner of a real estate brokerage firm in Los Angeles and the only contestant for whom the preview I screen capped didn't have a snippet of confidental....
Eddie Gilbert, a sous chef from Manhattan Beach, CA.
And finally, Michael Proietti, an executive chef from New York.
After the contestants are gathered at their apartment, Jeffrey finds a not-so-mysterious note:
Time for the very first challenge! Everyone heads to the Food Network Kitchens to find Bobby Flay with Food Network execs Tushface and "Bride of" Fogelstein. Tush addresses the group:
Cheapskates - with all of the chefs employed by the Food Network, they get the rookies (who so far work for free) to do the heavy lifting. The "party" is a staged fete celebrating the Food Network's 16 years on the air. It's such an important occasion, Access Hollywood will be there! Ooooohhhh!
Back at the Food Network Kitchens, there are some issues. Katie has to borrow dijon from Team Green because Debbie either didn't buy it or left it behind because she was over budget at checkout. Melissa is cranking out miniature apple tarts and is worried that she won't get them prepped in time to get 30 full minutes in the oven.
Hey, now that's someone douchey enough to be a Food Network Star!
The restaurant is full of Food Network personalities: Giada, Alton, Duff, etc. Nancy O'Dell from that very important news outlet, Access Hollywood, is also there.
Then the guests swarm the buffet in order to get a taste of Team Green's dishes. Brett makes a tiny comment about a dish being served cold because of having to work in a strange kitchen and Guarnaschelli gets all defensive.
After eating, the FN chefs give a critique of both the food and the presenter. Melissa's apple tart was a hit, and they liked her personality, but she may have talked too much; Jamika's shrimp was called a "gatekeeper of badness" by Alton Brown, but they liked her otherwise; Teddy's potato gratin tasted wonderful, even if the potatoes themselves were raw; Jen's green beans were unpleasant; and Brett's meat caused Duff to utter this line:
Was it really the meat, or the fact that he had to go all the way to NY to be at a pretend birthday party and wasn't asked to make a $5000 cake shaped like Rachael Ray's ass?
You'll probably wish you only had a gunshot wound at the end of this.
They liked Captain Debbie's sauce and her personality; Michael's "from Bed-Stuy to Bangkok" speech was appreciated and his spicy steak was enjoyed; Jeffrey's dish, despite not having ingredients he desperately wanted to use, was well-liked, as was his delivery; Katie's salad and Swiss chard dishes were deemed safe and too much like food a dietician would serve; Eddie had a good idea but he needed to put his personality in it a bit more. He also needed to grow a personality.
Back at the FN Studios, the contestants enter a loud yellow room to find Tush, Fogelstein, and Flay seated on a dias as if they were Supreme Court justices. Tush tells the contestants what was expected of them in this challenge: 1) show us who you are; 2) demonstrate the culinary expertise we demand in a Food Network star. Wait - culinary expertise? So how did Sandra Lee make it?
After giving the contestants their strong and weak points, Jeffrey, Michael, and Melissa are named the top three, and Jeffrey the ultimate winner of the night. They are dismissed and Brett, Jen, and Eddie are called out as losers. Jen, with her unpleasant green beans and nothing personality, is given the boot. 
