Got Aloha for a Teacher?
One of the hardest things about eating 100% local during last year's challenge was missing starchy staples like bread, pasta, and rice. I'm therefore experimenting with a potential pasta substitute: gnocci! The recipe below is a work in progress--the resulting gnocci varies greatly with the kind and amounts of potatoes used, how they're cooked, and how much of the other ingredients are added.
Olin and Kasha mentioned potential sources for local "flour" or making your own out of starchy local ingredients--I would love to give some of these a try, for the consistency and taste of the gnocci is still mostly like potatoes, though poi powder does add a subtle sweetness. If you experiment, please post so we can have "pasta" during Eat 100% Local week!
100% Local Gnocci Experiment
locally grown potatoes
local eggs
poi powder or some other locally sourced “flour” (I used Taro Brand poi powder)
drizzle of macnut oil
Microwave, bake, or boil potatoes. Place cooked potatoes in a large pan, skin them, mash them, and spread them out in a layer to cool enough so you can handle them comfortably.
Make a loose pile of the potatoes, add a drizzle of oil, crack two eggs or more over them, and knead the mixture until well blended.
Begin to knead in the poi powder, a little at a time, until the mixture is similar to bread dough in texture. Let it rest for about 15 minutes.
Take a small section and roll it into a rope, about ½ inch in thickness. Using a fork, cut off small sections (about ½ inch in length) and score each section with the fork.
Continue until all dough is processed into little gnocci “pillows”.
Liberally add Hawaiian salt to water in a large pot. Heat to a rolling boil. Add gnocci to the water, scoop them out when they float to the surface. Drain and toss in a sauce of your choice: Macnut pesto? Local roasted tomatoes and fresh basil? Browned local butter and fresh sage? You can also add sauteed Hamakua mushrooms, other sauteed veggies, local beef or chicken strips.
Food
Comments posted prior to adopting Facebook comments.
Going to try to make this for Eat Local! Thanks for sharing.
I saw poi powder at Marukai and wondered what I could do with it. Thanks for posting Cathy! Where did you get local potatoes? The only ones I find that are local are the sweet ones.
I found the potatoes at one of the vendors' stalls at KCC and was told they were from Maui. They only had red potatoes today along with the usual varieties of sweet potatoes.
Just came from the Farmers' market and was happy to see green peppercorns! When green, they apparently can be crushed to infuse pepper flavor into food. When dried, they become regular black peppercorns! One stall also had a few small bunches of green garlic--very small bulbs with green tops.
Kale, lettuce, kabocha, cucumbers, eggs, bananas, tomatoes, ulu, carrots, eggplant, zuccini, lemongrass, potatoes, pineapple, chocolate...carried a heavy load of local lusciousness to my car. I'm all stocked and good to go for the final Eat Local Challenge week!
What a cool idea! I never knew there was such a think as poi powder! =) I'll have to look for it! Thanks for sharing!
I couldn't find the red potatoes last week when I was looking for them, but one vendor that regularly carries potatoes is on the same aisle as the ginger coolers, and they were there today. =)
Do you have any measurements for this recipe...I'm not sure how much poi powder to buy...
Did you find poi powder at the Ward store...
No measurements for the recipe, but one small container should be enough unless you're making lots of gnocci. I went completely by "feel" of the dough to guess at how much of what I should add. My main concern was that the gnocci would hold together when I dropped them in the boiling water! That's why I added an extra egg.
I found the poi powder at Times near Temple Valley. Foodland at Market City or Ward Marukai sound like great options!
I saw the poi powder today at Foodland in Market City. It was $6+ for a small container.
I made this last night using okinawan sweet potatoes from our yard. I tried making taro flour by baking, dehydrating, then grinding the taro. Sadly, I don't have something strong enough to grind up completely dehydrated taro. So I had to use flour...but boy was this yummy! Thanks for sharing.