My "Leçon de Cuisine" #1: How to make a "roux", for my Gnocchi à la Parisienne

Many times I heard my friends saying..."Whenever I try to make a Béchamel sauce, it clumps...Where's the secret?", and an explanation followed...These things, that you have explained 367 times to your friends stay on your mind....and then, because life is an eternal "collision" of memories and experiences (?!) I came across this book, a sort of "revisited" version of French classics...and the gnocchi à la parisienne brought me back to the "how to a make a roux" enigma.. (lol)

Now, who's the girl? The lady in question this time is Anne-Sophie Pic, that together with Hélène Darroze (maybe you have read my post about her here), are the only two Michelin-starred lady chefs in France! Unfortunatley I have never been to Mme Pic restaurant since it is in Valence (France!!-not to be confused with Valencia, Spain), but after browsing her book, I loved her idea of modernizing French classics, making them, sometimes lighter, or more "design" in presentation...but mainly, and again (concept already expressed by Mme Darroze) this idea of democratizing French cooking...away the obscure recipes made obscure on purpose, so that only a few would succeed!! a welcome twist on classics,  accessible to modern people that can't spend four hours to make a fond de veau...

In her book, you will find the most classical approach to these gnocchi, that are nothing but "choux paste" (very different from typical potato Italian gnocchi!) plus Mornay sauce....And if I said choux and Mornay together...that equals eggs, eggs, and eggs...so if you are a vegan, this is clearly not for you! But look at Mme Pic, typical brunette from the south of France...she seems to be slim and healthy, even though she spends her life in the kitchen...my opinion is that the secret is in the quality of products, many greens and fiber, (but without leaving out other things as important as meats, etc)..and moderation in quantity...eating these gnocchi every day is certainly bad for your health...but a small portion once in a while...it warms your heart! In any case, I enjoyed the Mmmm!!!! Yummy! I heard around my table, when we ate this for Sunday lunch! 

I decided to add some sauté (in olive oil) leeks and mushrooms, because I needed my "vegetable share"...(and it was what I had in the fridge at the moment) You can use what you want to...your taste and imagination set free...

The advantage of this dish is that you can prepare it in advance, keep it in the fridge, and grill it the last moment! so you have more time to enjoy your lunch, dinner or brunch, with family and friends...

Enjoy!

For the recipe, see below...





To make these gnocchi à la parisienne, you need:
(5 servings)


*unskimmed milk, 357gr  *butter *butter, 100gr *salt, one pinch * flour, 190gr *eggs, 6 *nutmeg, one pinch

In a saucepan, put the milk, butter cut into pieces, and salt, and take to a boil. Pour in all the flour. With a wooden spoon, stir everything well, cook over medium fire, for 5 minutes till the dough does not attach to the saucepan. The idea is to dry the dough well. If you have a hallogen stove, turn it off and cook on the still hot ring. Put the dough in a stand-mixer with the paddle, and start adding the eggs one by one. Add the nutmeg. Do not add the other egg if the first one is not incorporated! (you can do this by hand although it is more tiring!) Put the dough is a pastry bag with a wide tip (I used 16cm). Get ready a saucepan, with boiling salted water. Press the pastry bag, and cut the gnocchi with a knife. 

Cut 2cm-long gnocchi. Cook for 4'. Strain. Put them in a bowl with iced water (to stop cooking time). Set aside.

For the Mornay sauce
*milk, 600ml * flour, 600gr * butter, 600gr *egg yolks, 3 *parmesan cheese, or gruyere, 100gr, grated *salt (to taste)

To make this sauce, you have to start by making a roux...The key to success? 1.  Perfect quantity of ingredients: same quantity of flour, butter and milk 2. Thermic contrast: if the roux is hot, the milk should be cold, or viceversa !!! 

In a saucepan, melt the butter (it shouldn't color!!!), then add the flour. Stir with a whisk and cook for 2' (if not your sauce will taste of flour!) Make sure your roux does not color! It is a white roux! Pour in the cold milk, little by litlle, whisking well, taking the sauce to a boil each time you add more milk. Turn off the heat; let the temperature go down a bit. Add the yolks. Whisk well. Add the cheese. Season to taste (you can add pepper and nutmeg)


Pre-heat your oven in the grill position. Put the gnocchi in a gratin dish. Cover with the sauce. Cook for 10', till golden. Serve the gnocchi directly from the gratin dish. (Here I used a dish "à crème brûlée"