One night, a weeknight, I promised the kids gnocchi with a meaty venison bolognese. Most afternoons after the school pick-up, I get distracted with chores and then get to cooking time and have one of those ‘Oh shit!’ moments when I realise I’ve run out of time to make the meal for which I had grand plans. This is how this meal was created, from an ‘Oh shit!’ moment.
Now deconstructed gnocchi is normally something you’d find at a Michelin-starred restaurant. It takes a lot of effort to make and can be quite expensive to order. It’s often only attempted by experienced chefs, but I’m happy to share my secrets, as I have a great shortcut.
So what is deconstructed gnocchi? Well, obviously it’s derived from the gnocchi plant itself. The actual deconstruction process that chefs tend to use involves laying the gnocchi on a bed of dry ice for 16.5 hours, then using a blowtorch to heat the gnocchi to extreme temperatures until it begins to crumble. It’s at this stage that it’s transformed into a dust-like state. It’s then placed in a rehydrating vacuum machine (very expensive), which turns it into a foamy substance. This foam is then layered on copper trays for refrigeration. When someone orders the deconstructed gnocchi, the chef simply spoons some of that substance from the tray and reheats it in a frying pan (with a glug of olive oil).
Even though it’s a simple enough process, I’ve come up with a much faster method. Instead of making the actual gnocchi, deconstructing it then reanimating it, I simply boil potatoes and mash them. The kids have yet to notice the difference.