Last day of guided review - our first finals take all of next week.

The clam chowder is the first dish I prepare, but it comes out too thin and needed salt, surprisingly. I've recalibrated my sensitivity to salt and I thought it was pretty good, but not this time. My chowder wasn't the only one that was too thin, however. Everyone's chowders were so thin that the additional water called for in the recipe has been removed for our coming final. We will only use cream and a couple of ounces of clam juice.

Actually, I like the watery chowder, sort of a hybrid version of New England and Rhode Island clam chowder.

While I was working on the clam chowder, my potatoes for the gnocchi were roasting in the oven. They still weren't done when I returned with the subpar chowder, so I put together my ravioli filling, which would chill and set while I finished making the gnocchi. With the filling done, the potatoes were ready to come out of the oven.

Here's a trick to getting the skins off your roasted potatoes for the gnocchi. Rather than try to peel the hot things (and burn your fingers), cut them in half, lengthwise. Then, holding half a potato with a sidetowel, scoop out the insides with a spoon. This is faster, easier and leaves you with an empty potato skin that you can brush with oil, sprinkle with salt and toss in the oven to roast into crispness. Makes a nice garnish, or just a snack (especially with a little melted gruyere).

This time I tried to be extra sure I had enough flour in my gnocchi (Kitchen Academy - Course I - Day 20). Rolling out and cutting them was a tad quicker using my bench scraper. They came out looking quite nice, though a little on the big side. Once my gnocchi were made I put them in the freezer to rest a bit. They'd be the last dish I finished.

Next up was the ravioli. Rolling out the pasta dough is getting easier and easier (he says, hoping he doesn't jinx his final). I decided to go with primary shapes for my ravioli: circle, square, triangle. I got an excellent seal on the filling, but didn't squeeze enough air out. The result is that, when cooked, the filling doesn't congeal as well as it should. Still tasted good, but the texture was off.

Finally, the gnocchi got their boiling water bath and a bit of saucing with browned butter and sage. It may be simple, but when browned butter and sage is done right, it can be sublime. My sauce was very, very good (though my gnocchi were a bit soft, still needed a little more flour). I couldn't resist and finished off the plate after presenting it. Mmmmm ...

We finished the day with a review for the exam on Monday. Lots of memorization required.