Crinella Family Cookbook
Our Grandparents' Favorites
Anti Pasti
Soups
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Pasta
Vegetables
Fish
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Wild Game
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Brunch or Luncheon Dishes
Odds & Ends
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Table of Contents
Crinella Winery
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Pasta
All-Purpose Pasta Dough
Simple Tomato Sauce
Tagliolini (Egg Noodles)
Noodle Scraps in Butter and
Cheese
Pasta Primavera
Spaghetti Alia E Olio
Abruzzi Spaghetti Sauce
Baked Lasagna
Linguini a la Vongole
Pasta with Pesto Sauce
Potato Gnocchi
Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce
Ravioli
Rotelli Pasta with
Pesto Clam Sauce
Farfalle with Italian Mushrooms
and Brown Sauce
Risotti
Mushroom Risotto
Lombardi Risotto
Risotto with Clams
Risotto Garibaldi
Italian Quiche
Roasted Pepper Rice
Polenta
Polenta Fritta
Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce
for Polenta Fritta
Meat Gravy for Polenta
2005 Sauvignon Blanc
2006 Pinot Noir
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Potato Gnocchi
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Gnocchi are simply Italian dumplings. There are many kinds, including
potato, spinach, and spinach with cheese, but we weren't too adventurous
with gnocchi, and preferred the potato variety.
As children, we always loved it when Nona Zurlo made gnocchi, because
after the dumplings were rolled and cut into pieces, they had to be
pressed, with a fork, into little shells--a job always reserved for the
kids. It wasn't an easy chore, requiring a deft twist of the wrist to
impart the right shape, and the patience to remain on the "assembly line"
for an hour or so until all of the dumplings had been shaped.
Gnocchi, like other forms of pasta, are served as a first course with any
number of different sauces, but our family preferred only a few sauces.
12 large russet potatoes
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon, salt
4 cups, all purpose flour
1/4 cup, olive oil
1/2 stick, unsalted butter
12 quarts, water
1 cup, freshly grated Parmesan cheese
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
With a fork, puncture the potatoes in
several places and bake in oven for 1 hour or until tender.
Remove
insides of baked potatoes, discarding skins.
Squeeze hot potatoes through
a ricer or sieve into a large mixing bowl, and allow to cool.
Add egg
yolks, salt and four, mixing well.
Put potato mixture on a working
surface or wooden pasta board and knead into a ball.
Mixture should be
soft and pliable and slightly sticky. If it is too sticky, add a bit more
flour.
Lightly flour the pasta board and your hands.
Break dough into
pieces the size of large eggs.
Shape pieces into working rolls about the
thickness of your thumb.
Cut rolls into 1-inch pieces.
To shape gnocchi, hold a fork with its tines resting on the pasta board at
a 45 degree angle and the inside of the curve toward you.
Take a dumpling
roll and press it with your index finger against the outside cure of the
fork at the tip end. Quickly slide the dumpling up and down the length of
the tines, pressing with your index finger. Remove finger and let
dumpling fall back onto working surface.
Grooves made by fork and finger
indentation will absorb the sauce served with the gnocchi.
Repeat with
all dumplings. Arrange dumplings on a floured tray or large plate.
Fill a large saucepan with water, and sprinkle with salt, and bring to a
boil. Add oil and dumplings.
When dumplings come to the surface of the
water, cook 10 to 15 seconds more (if dumplings remain in water any longer
they will absorb water and become too soft).
Remove dumplings with
slotted spoon or strainer, draining against the side of the saucepan.
Place in a warm dish.
Serve hot with butter and grated Parmesan cheese,
or with Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce.
This amount will make
about 12 servings, as a first course or side dish, or about 6 to 8
servings as a main dish.
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