Homemade gnocchi, studded with crushed black pepper, and lightly sautéed in browned butter with a sprinkling of sea salt.  Separately, I made some caramelized onions to serve with the gnocchi along with some shaved asiago cheese.

Making gnocchi can take a bit of practice, but this was my third go at it, and these tasty, delightfully light beauties turned out almost perfect.  My first couple of attempts didn’t turn out too shabby either, but they did not hold together as well as this batch did.  I added some additional drying time at the end of the recipe and that seemed to do the trick; giving the gluten some more time to bind up the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 3 Potatoes (medium sized)
• 1/2 tsp coarsely ground or crushed Black Pepper Corns
• 1 Egg (room temp)
• 1/2 – 1 cup Flour

Directions:

1. Prepare the potatoes:
   1. One of the keys to making light gnocchi is to use as little flour as possible, which means that you want to keep things as dry as possible.  Generally, when a recipe requires cook potatoes I head for the boiling water, but in the case of gnocchi, I have found the microwave is the best way to go.  The microwave will draw some of the moisture out of the potatoes, ergo, less flour.  Microwave your potatoes.
   2. Allow your potatoes to cool fully.
   3. Remove the potato skins.
   4. Grate your potatoes or run them through a ricer.  The potatoes should be slightly mushy anyways.
2.  Add the egg and black pepper to your potatoes using your hand to mush it together.
3. Gradually add about a 1/2 cup of flour to your potatoes, remembering that when it comes to flour and gnocchi less is more.  You want to add just enough flour to form a light, slightly sticky dough, but not a heavy, solid dough.
4. Allow your dough to rest, while covered, for about 1/2 a hour to activate the gluten.  The gluten will work to hold the dough together, and give it some structure.
5. Form the gnocchi:
   1. Use your hands to roll the dough out into long logs. Dusting with flour as needed, but once again sparingly.
   2. Use a sharp knife to cut the logs into evenly portioned gnocchi.
   3. If you have a gnocchi board or fork you can create light ridges in your gnocchi to collect sauce.
6. Allow your gnocchi sit out and dry for about a hour before cooking.

Crushed Black Pepper Gnocchi with Caramelized Onions

Ingredients:

• Black Pepper Gnocchi
• 2 tbsp Butter
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• 2 large Vidalia (Sweet Spanish) Onion sliced into half rounds
• 1/2 tsp Sugar
• Grated Asiago Cheese for garnishing

Directions:

1. Place the butter in a small sauce pan to brown, or until the milk solids seperate and the butter has become almost hazelnut in color.
2. Meanwhile, pour the olive oil into a sauté pan and begin to heat the pan.
3. Caramelize the onions in the olive oil, and sprinkle in the sugar to add to the caramelization.
4. One the butter has browned pour a small portion of it into another sauté pan, and distribute some of the gnocchi evenly throughout the pan.  Do not over crowd the pan, and plan to cook your gnocchi in three or four different batches.
5. Sprinkle the gnocchi with sea salt, and continue to sauté them until they are fully cooked.
6. Remove the gnocchi from the pan, pour in a little more browned butter, and proceed to cook the next batch.
7. Serve the gnocchi with the caramelized onions and the shaved asiago cheese.