Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Rocco: Hey everybody, I'm Rocco DiSpirito.
In my new book, Now Eat This! Italian,
I make our favorite Italian-American classics all under 350 calories,
and I came to Italy to learn the original techniques
from the very best cooks in the world, Italian mamas.
Here's how I did it.
(popping bottle)
(upbeat music)
What's up everybody. We're here in Sorrento.
I'm at the house of Concetta Cadolina,
and the great thing about being in Italy
is you find good food everywhere.
I mean we're in the middle of an apartment complex basically
on one of the busiest streets in all of Sorrento.
Today we're making gnocchi [unintelligible]
So flour, what kind of flour?
Concetta: Double zero.
Rocco: And she's kind of sifting it.
Cooked potatoes. One egg.
Concetta: Only one.
Rocco: Salt and [mescolare] which means mix it up.
So always put a little less flour
because if you need it you can always add it.
So she's working the dough by hand.
This is not a dough that you want a lot of resistance.
You want it to barely come together.
And she's serving with a sauce of tomatoes and pork [unintelligible]
So the way she makes her gnocchi she rolls it out.
There's a lot of methods. You can use a piping bag.
She rolls it out and then cuts it.
Concetta: Is this enough?
Rocco: Yes, it's enough.
Concetta: Okay.
Rocco: The gnocchi are great because they tell you when they're ready.
They float to the top. They say we're ready, take us out.
These are delicious. They're like perfect little pillows
of potato and the sauce is a hearty, meaty, pork flavored sauce.
It's going to be difficult to duplicate the rich flavor of these dishes.
They are calorie laden.
They've got pork products in them, cheese, flour, potatoes,
all the bad stuff, so I'm going to have to take out all the bad stuff,
and replace it with new stuff.
I've got a really innovative technique that
I'm going to use of mine that I think will do the trick.
Okay, it's my turn to make my version of gnocchi.
I'm borrowing a lot from a dish called gnudi. It's a little different than gnocchi.
Gnudi are dumplings that are made of ricotta,
and they allow the outside to dry and it forms this nice skin.
However, I [can't use enough] flour so I'm
going to do something different.
Starts off with a ricotta mixture that has
fat free ricotta mixed with whole milk ricotta,
also basil, whole wheat pastry flour,
egg white powder and a little bit of parmesan cheese.
Mix that all together and you get this
delicious creamy mixture that is a perfect filling for a dumpling.
A portion or one ball is a tablespoon and you make a ball.
Goes first into the egg white powder, and
then gets rolled around in there.
Now the reason I'm using egg white powder
followed by cornstarch is the best way to
create this thin film to contain the ricotta mixture.
Using [enough] flour and using the [drying] method
would guarantee way too many calories.
I like to roll it around and make sure it's completely coated.
Now boiling water. Make sure it's salted.
Salt raises the temperature of water two degrees,
so this will actually cook faster as the result of having [unintelligible]
All right, time to put it in the water.
When I put these little balls in the water
I move them around so that they don't stick to the bottom.
The cornstarch gels very quickly and begins
to create this perfect encapsulation for the ricotta mixture.
When they're ready they're going to float
to the top just like her gnocchi did.
Let's get the sauce ready.
It's a marinara sauce, fresh tomatoes, garlic.
(upbeat music)
If you look closely you can see that there is
a clear skin encapsulating the ricotta mixture.
It's exactly what we're looking for.
You want to make sure it stays in the water long enough,
so that the ricotta mixture warms all the way through.
And you'll end up with this liquid center
molten dumpling of ricotta with basically a
calorie free covering. It's an amazing thing.
So they're starting to float to the top.
Means they want to come out and jump in our mouths.
So you can see the wrapper of cornstarch, it's clear.
Top each one with a little bit of sauce.
And then, of course, Parmigano-Reggiano,
Time for the tasting.
When I put the fork through it I don't know if you can see this,
but the center is sort of popping out.
Concetta: I already ate mine.
Rocco: Mm-mm. Incredible.
Concetta: I like these a lot.
Rocco: She said she loves these a lot.
Today must be my lucky day.
I've made this dish hundreds of times,
and the best its ever come out is right now.
Here's the really good news.
The original version has 503 calories, 32 grams of fat.
The now eat this version only 251 calories, 8.5 grams of fat.
That is half the calories and fat of the original version.
(upbeat music)
And I know you'll want to eat this gnocchi, but now eat this gnudi.
(music)