Gnocchi, It's not Just the Cat on Curious George!

Ever since my kids started watching Curious George on PBS several years ago, I was curious about where the name of the cat, "Gnocchi" came from. (Ha! Curious George made me curious!)

After some research online, I found out that gnocchi are small dumplings that can be made from potatoes, pumpkin, ricotta cheese, or various other mediums.

We found a basic potato gnocchi recipe and tried it out.  It is now one of my favorite Fall comfort foods and a very fun recipe to bake together with the kids!  Best of all you can use your leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving dinner and give them a makeover into something delicious and inexpensive.

Seriously, doesn't this look SO good?

Start by making your dough.  The dough is about 2 cups mashed potatoes.  (If you don't know how to make mashed potatoes.... really you don't?...Well, then peel about 4-5 medium or 2-3 large potatoes, cut into small pieces and boil for 15-20 minutes.  Mash with a masher or in a food processor.  I, personally, dump the boiled potatoes into my Kitchen Aid mixer, whip them on high, and Voila! mashed potatoes.)  When the mashed potatoes have cooled, so that you don't cook the eggs, add 2 beaten egg yolks, 1 1/2 cups flour, and a pinch of salt.  I also like to add a tsp of thyme and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese for flavor.  The dough needs to be stiff enough that you can roll it into a long snake.  If it isn't the right consistency, keep adding flour until it is right.

Next, I let the kids roll the dough into long snakes.

Then cut into 1/2"-1" pieces.

Press each piece in the center with a fork.

Gather gnocchi together until it is ready to boil.

Boil for about 5-10 minutes in a large pot of salted water until all gnocchi are floating at the top.  Drain then toss with your favorite pasta sauce.  Ours is Ragu.  And if you want to be really fancy, sprinkle with cheese and a little bit of parsley flakes.  Parsley always makes our dinners extra fancy!

Gnocchi

Ingredients

2 lbs whole baking potatoes (10lb. bag for $1.99 = about $0.07 per potato) $0.35
2 beaten egg yolks ($1.84 per 18 = about $0.10 per egg) $0.20
1 1/2 cups flour ($1.54 per 5lbs or 19 cups = about $0.08 per cup) $0.20
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese ($4.29 per 8 oz. = about $0.10 per TBSP) $0.40
1 tsp. thyme ($4.29 per 0.37 oz or about 10 tsp= about $0.43 per tsp) $0.43
Pinch of salt (under $0.01) $0.01

Shredded Cheese ($2.99 per 8 oz or about 0.37 an ounce) $0.74
Your favorite pasta sauce $1.29 per jar = $1.29

Serves 5

Total Cost for Meal: approx. $3.62!!! or $0.73 per serving and those aren't even sales prices!