Cooking Gnocchi: Round II

Since one of my goals for 2012 is to learn to make 3 authentic Italian meals, worthy of recreating and serving, I figured that it was time to attend another cooking class at La Vigna.

Tonight's menu consisted of the usual yummies prepared by the professionals paired with spinach gnocchi and involtini (meat rolls) prepared with the help of us Americans.

We followed the same basic gnocchi recipe as last time, but with the addition of spinach- lots of it:

Boil 3 large potatoes until soft.
Remove peels and using a potato ricer, rice them.

Boil spinach. (Not sure how much but once boiled, excess water removed, and also processed with the potato ricer there was approx 2 cups.)

In a bowl mix the riced potatoes and spinach with hands and add two eggs.

Once mixed (super sticky!) turn out onto counter or cutting board. Mix in flour (approx 2 cups) or until when poked the dough springs back.

Remove a small section and start rolling "snakies". More flour is probably needed at this point, but try to keep it to a minimum. Once rolled, slice into 1/2 inch sections and lightly dust with flour.

Boil in salted water until they float. Once floating, cool in a cold water bath.

The sauce we created was so simple...little too creamy for my tastes but a great contrast to the spinach delight-fulness. In a pan we combined a scoop (probably 1c) olive oil, 1/2ish cup of sliced proscuiutto crudo, and a container of "cooking milk." I'm sure he added salt too...it's always in there. Near the end shredded Parmesan cheese was tossed in, because we are in Italy after all!

The next task was to slice turkey, pork (shoulder) and veal. (Again, Italian veal...not American.) Once in 2inch rectangles, each piece was pounded flat and lined up in the counter in rows. We weren't sure why, but there was a reason...the next step was to season each with pepper, salt, and then place shredded Parmesan cheese down the middle. Then each little piece was rolled "like a cigarette" and several like meats were skewered together before being lightly coated in flour.

They were thrown into a pan with more melted butter than can possibly be healthy and you guessed it, salt. As they were almost cooked white wine was thrown into the mix (about 1/2 a bottle) before continuing to cook. I think a little water was also added just to keep the gravy/sauce at a very thin consistency. 

And that was it- we were done cooking and it was time to eat! And seriously, it was almost 8pm by this time so eating is probably a much more civilized term for what we did as our faces were stuffed with bruschetta, zeppoline, and wine while our creations were being plated. So yummy and believe me, by the secondo (the meat course) we were all full but somehow we all found room for potatoes (yes we realize the redundancy from our primo) and even the salad. Thinking our meal was done (well, our bellies were) dessert was served: a ricotta and cherry like cake. Sort of like a cheese cake but with a real crust. Sorry for the lack of description, but this time of the evening I was fighting off a food coma.

I think I've got the gnocchi covered...in fact I'm even thinking that I'll start doing a misti gnocchi that will be green, white, and orange...if I can find a squash that won't be too stringy to mix in. I was thinking roasted pepper too? Okay, so maybe not the traditional Italian meal but aren't we Californians always putting our own spin on things?