The other day, I sliced about the family foods that make me "me." You know the ones...the family recipes that get passed down from generation to generation.
This morning, I was making one of those foods -- my aunt's gnocchi. I mixed the dough, rolled it out into ropes, and sliced it into little puffs. No longer in possession of my rolling basket, I flattened each puff with a fork, put a thumb print indentation in each middle, and left it to dry.
I have probably made this recipe 20 times in my life. We love it! Homemade gnocchi cannot even compare to that frozen stuff I buy in the store.
I still remember when my aunt taught me how to make them. Back then, she didn't score them with a fork, but rolled them in a basket with flour. She taught me to drain the ricotta before mixing it in. As I make them now, it's as if my aunt is standing beside me.
Making gnocchi takes a long time. Many of the family recipes take awhile to make. We have become so used to having food ready in five minutes flat that we sometimes forget the joy of cooking something by hand.
This got me thinking...My daughter is 15. I have never taught her how to make gnocchi, or any of the other family recipes in fact, and I began to panic. What if she never learned? Would these recipes end with me? Would she be doomed to a life of boxed mac & cheese and chicken nuggets???
So my little adventure in gnocchi making this morning woke me up to the fact that I need to start teaching her how to make these recipes NOW. She began this afternoon by helping my husband make spaghetti sauce for the gnocchi. As we eat dinner tonight, she will feel the pride of having made something that her family has been enjoying for generations.
Thank goodness I'm not too late.
