Potato Gnocchi

 

The first time I had gnocchi was with my best friend from childhood, Amanda, whose family is from Italy.  They are such delicious little pods of potatoey goodness, and for years I was under the impression they were impossibly hard to make.  Not so!  I made gnocchi a while back with Dani, and I realized how easy it actually is.  I finally got a potato ricer, which makes life a whole lot easier when you go to make these, so I decided it's time I make some gnocchi for myself.

Ingredients (serves 2, plus plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day):

1 lb russet potatoes

1/2 egg, beaten

1 tsp salt

1 cup all purpose flour

The first step is to boil the potatoes.  Boil them for a good 40-45 minutes whole, with the skin on.  It preserves the flavor of the potatoes and whatnot. 

When the potatoes are ready, you should be able to slip a fork into the center of your biggest potato without any issues.  Once that's done, transport your cooked potatoes to a clean surface and peel the skins off.  I found that it's easiest to kinda scrape it off with the same fork I used to stab-test the potato.   

Also, you should really use russet potatoes.  The best gnocchi are the ones that have a lot of starch in them, and while I love my Yukon golds very much, they will not yield the kind of starch you're searching for.

Okay, so here is my potato ricer.  Yay, i love this thing!

Put small chunks of potato in there (at least, if you have small hands like me) and press!  It is very, VERY satisfying.  It's like playing with a Playdoh Fun Factory.

Except you get to eat it :)  Okay, so once the potatoes are riced, they will look like this.  Is it my imagination or does it look like rice to you?  Hmm.

Okay, so here's the egg that I've beaten.  I know, what kind of recipe calls for half an egg?  I'm sorry about that.  I just didn't have enough potatoes to warrant a full recipe, so I cut it in half.  I actually ended up making a half batch of cookies later that night that called for half an egg, so that's how I used my leftovers.

Add the salt for flavah, and add the flour.  Man, I go through flour so quickly these days with all my pasta-making and dessert-baking.
 

Once you mix it all up, it will look something like this.

And then you should be able to kinda get your hands in there and form it into one mass.

Once you have formed a ball or some cohesive lump, dump it onto a floured surface and get ready to play more Fun Factory!

Okay, so take part of it and roll it into a rope.  I made them 1/2 inch wide at first, then they got progressively bigger, to like 3/4 inch wide.  It doesn't matter, they both taste wonderful.

Then take a sharp knife and cut your playdoh dough into small segments.

Then!  This is a fun part.  You can do one of two things: you can either take a fork and press the gnocchi gently into the surface (as if you're stamping it with a seal) to get the ridges, or you can put the gnocchi on your fork and press into it with your finger like this.

Either way, one side of the gnocchi nugget will have a forky imprint like this.

I think the theory behind the ridges on the gnocchi are so they can hold the sauce better when you eat them.  Like the way some pastas have grooves or ridges on them.

So my mom always says that the mark of a good cook is that they can get all their food looking consistent.  All her handmade dumplings look absolutely identical and pristine, like they were pressed by a machine.  Then there's me.  Check out the gnocchi from the beginning and end of my batch.

I'm so glad I'm not a food perfectionist, because I'd probably explode.  I tend to keep my perfectionist side of things to my professional life, and let myself be who I really am (a free spirit, let's call it) in the kitchen :)

Okay, so once you're done with the gnocchi-forming, bring some water (salted!) to a boil.  At this point, it's pretty much like you're making pasta.  Once the water is boiling, drop the gnocchi in there.  When you do this, watch out for splash-back.  Ouch.  Boil them for a few minutes until they float.  You can either drain them and serve them right away, or if you're gonna store them, you can fish them out and dunk the cooked gnocchi in cold water to keep them from cooking further.

Either way, when you're ready to eat them, you can cover them in your favorite pasta sauce, which is what I did.

Yum!  You can also dress them with pesto.  I'll bet that would be delicious.  Check out the yummy nuggets of goodness!

The ridges turned out pretty good, yeah? 

See how easy it is to make some delicious fresh gnocchi?  It's a delicious alternative to pasta, and it's fun and interactive to make.  A great way to get kids into the kitchen to help out with dinner :)  Plus, the ingredients are inexpensive items you could easily have on hand at any time.

Enjoy!

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For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.