How to make Gnocchi
One of my favourite meals to prepare is Gnocchi. The recipe is from my dear friend Federico, who thought me how to prepare it like they do in Turin. Hopefully by the end of this recipe blog you are able to enjoy Gnocchi as much as I do.
Gnocchi is an Italian pasta which is made out of potatoes. Gnocchi originates in Northern Italy. They are known as Italian potato dumplings. Making Gnocchi takes a lot of time (about 2 hours), but it is easy to make.
– 1 kilogram of potatoes (preferably the one perfect for mashed potato)
– 1 Egg
– +/- 300 grams of flour
– Salt
Step 1
Peel the potatoes, and put them in a pot with water and salt
Cook the potatoes until they fall apart (about 15 min).
Step 2
Mash the potatoes until they are fully mashed. Then add salt and the 1 egg.
Step 3
Mix the egg into the mashed potatoes.
Start adding half a cup of flour (50/70 gram) to the potato mash and mix with your hands. Be careful it can be warm!
Step 4
Keep adding flour until you can form a ball.
Start kneading the dough, and keep adding flour until it feels like a bread/pizza dough. (Firm but still easy to move)
Step 5
Start taking pieces of the potato dough (3/4 cm diameter) a time and roll out with your hands into dough string as you can see on the photo.
Step 6
Prepare a ovensheet or anything that is flat and big with a bit of flour.
Start cutting the dough strings in pieces that are about 1,5 centimetres long.
I prefer to squish them a bit in the middle, but you can rol them on a vork when you cut them as well.
Step 7
The last step is to cook the Gnocchi. Take a pot with boiling water, add salt!
Add one portion (1/4) at a time to the pot and give it a quick stir. Then don’t touch the Gnocchi until they flow, then they are ready. Get them out of the water and cook the other portions.
Now you can add the Gnocchi to any sauce you like. I prefer marinara sauce or with pesto.
Kim Heilijgers 