How to Make Light and Tender Homemade Gnocchi
Making gnocchi, or potato pasta, can appear difficult or daunting but like making standard homemade pasta the process is fairly straightforward if you keep a few tips in mind. For example, if you use starchy potatoes (along with the glutten from the flour) the dough will hold very well. Further you should always bake your potatoes so that water isn’t introduced into the dough and when kneading try to be as gentle as possible (if you over knead you’ll make the end product much tougher and you won’t get those comments like, “…these gnocchi are so light!”
Here’s our simple gnocchi recipe which includes some optional ingredients:
Gnocchi
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Light as a cloud gnocchi
Cook: Vince from Scordo
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
- 5-6 baking potatoes with a high starch content (russets are fine)
- ½ to 3⁄4 cup of flour
- Kosher salt
Process
- Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and bake potatoes until tender - about 60 minutes. Scoop out the potato flesh and pass through a ricer and collect in a bowl. Season with salt and mix.
- Sprinkle ¼ cup flour on a large wooden cutting board and begin to knead the potatoes until the dough begins to come together. Along the way make sure to sprinkle in the remaining ¼ cup flour.
- Roll a piece of the dough into a rope-like shape about ½-inch thick, then cut the into ½-inch lengths. To achieve the characteristic gnocchi lines score each piece by rolling it along the tines of a fork. Assemble the pieces on a large baking tray lined with wax paper.
- To cook the gnocchi, boil plenty of water and gently add the pieces and stir with great care. A few seconds after they rise to the surface, the gnocchi are done.
- We like to serve gnocchi with a bit of butter and grated cheese or a spoonful or two of homemade tomato sauce.
Nothing like well made gnocchi! In Rome they made them every Thursday, as much as tradition as fish on Friday. I have to admit, though, that my gnocchi-making skills could be better—mine tned to turn out misshapen (but still tasty). And I do cheat by putting in a bit of egg for binding. Don’t tell anyone… ;=)
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