A little while back, I was lucky enough to experience a gnocchi-making class with Cenacolo’s Jill Pelchen. Jill is a spirited, talented, hilarious woman, and exactly who should be teaching a fun pasta-making class. She knows a thing or two (read: A LOT) about how to work flour, eggs, ricotta and love into the most delicious gnocchi I’ve ever tasted.
When I arrived to class, I was greeted with a warm hello and the ever-imperative question of “red or white?”. Then, Jill jumped right into familiarizing everyone with their stations. Each student was equipped with all of the ingredients needed for the homemade Ricotta Gnocchi, a recipe card, a pastry cutter, a gnocchi board, and just enough room for that glass of wine. Always red, in my case.
Step 1: Dump ricotta cheese onto the board. Such a simple first step that had everyone in the class giggling with excitement and chattering about how they thought they were going to do.
Step 2: Make a well in the ricotta. (Note: Not potato like I’m used to seeing in gnocchi and
Step 3: Add and egg, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper into the center and slowly incorporate it into the mound of ricotta by pulling from the sides of the well.
Step 3: Slowly add flour and start kneading the dough until it’s no longer sticky.
Step 3a: Take a drink of wine. Jill says that flour on the wine glasses improves the flavor of the gnocchi.
As I looked around the room I noticed that some folks were really rocking. One woman was somewhat experienced and was excitedly comparing the gnocchi dough to her homemade ravioli dough. The gentleman next to her was more of a novice who subtly lifted his doughy hands into the air, almost as a white floury flag of defeat, until Jill came over to help him incorporate more flour into the dough and really worked it together. Regardless of how theirs looked… each and every person, beginner or not, was having an absolute blast. Including me.
Once the dough had come together, it was time for Step 4: cutting the ball into smaller portions and rolling those pieces into “snakes.”
Step 5: cut the snakes into small pieces with the pastry cutter.
Step 7: coat the finished gnocchi in some extra flour so that they don’t stick to one another.
As everyone was cleaning up their stations, I was able to sneak next door to Dal Forno,
A special thanks to Jill Pelchen for answering all of my questions and giving me the VIP treatment that day.
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