Recipe Gnocchi

The Late Night Gourmet

The Late Night Gourmet

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Gnocchi

Making these pillows of potatoey goodness isn't as hard as the many steps below make it look. My family never pan fried the potatoes after boiling, but I like that relatively new development in the recipe, so I've added it in. And, as a personal note, my dad always pronounced "ny-AWE-key" not "ny-OWE-key". He was born in northern Italy, so I consider this to be the Correct pronunciation.

Ingredients

4 lbs russet potatoes
3 cups flour (Italian 00 flour)
1⁄3 cup semolina
1 egg
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

  1. Peel potatoes and boil until they are soft (about 30 minutes). Retain hot water for use later.
  2. While still warm, press through a potato ricer into a large mixing bowl.
  3. Reheat water use to boil potatoes and return to a boil. Set up ice bath with 6 cups ice and 6 cups water near boiling water.
  4. Make well in center of riced potatoes and pour flour on the potatoes. Make a well in the middle of the flour using the back of the measuring scoop. Place egg and salt in center of well and using a fork, stir into flour and potatoes. Once egg is mixed in, kneading gently until a ball is formed. Knead gently until fully blended and ball is dry to touch.
  5. Roll baseball-sized ball (or cricket ball-sized ball) of dough into 3/4-inch diameter dowels. If desired, create a crease down the middle of each dowel. Cut dowels into 1-inch long pieces.
  6. Drop these pieces into boiling water and cook until they float (about 1 minute).
  7. Make sure not to put more than a single layer worth of gnocchi in the water at a time.
  8. As gnocchi float to top of boiling water, remove them to ice bath using a slotted spoon.
  9. Only put the amount of one potful in the ice bath at a time. As the next batch of gnocchi forms, remove gnocchi from ice bath and place on a cooling rack or paper towel.
  10. Continue with remaining dough, forming dowels, cutting into 1-inch pieces and cooking until all dough is used.
  11. Once all the gnocchi is cooked, heat a large pan to medium-high heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan, and toss half of the gnocchi to coat with melted butter. Heat in the pan until one side browns, then flip over using tongs. Continue cooking until the other side browns, then move gnocchi back to the cooling rack. Once the pan is emptied, melt the other tablespoon of butter in the pan and repeat with remaining gnocchi.
  12. Once the gnocchi cools, place in a sealed container with wax paper to separate layers of gnocchi.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
View attachment 18511

Gnocchi

Making these pillows of potatoey goodness isn't as hard as the many steps below make it look. My family never pan fried the potatoes after boiling, but I like that relatively new development in the recipe, so I've added it in. And, as a personal note, my dad always pronounced "ny-AWE-key" not "ny-OWE-key". He was born in northern Italy, so I consider this to be the Correct pronunciation.

Ingredients

4 lbs russet potatoes
3 cups flour (Italian 00 flour)
1⁄3 cup semolina
1 egg
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

  1. Peel potatoes and boil until they are soft (about 30 minutes). Retain hot water for use later.
  2. While still warm, press through a potato ricer into a large mixing bowl.
  3. Reheat water use to boil potatoes and return to a boil. Set up ice bath with 6 cups ice and 6 cups water near boiling water.
  4. Make well in center of riced potatoes and pour flour on the potatoes. Make a well in the middle of the flour using the back of the measuring scoop. Place egg and salt in center of well and using a fork, stir into flour and potatoes. Once egg is mixed in, kneading gently until a ball is formed. Knead gently until fully blended and ball is dry to touch.
  5. Roll baseball-sized ball (or cricket ball-sized ball) of dough into 3/4-inch diameter dowels. If desired, create a crease down the middle of each dowel. Cut dowels into 1-inch long pieces.
  6. Drop these pieces into boiling water and cook until they float (about 1 minute).
  7. Make sure not to put more than a single layer worth of gnocchi in the water at a time.
  8. As gnocchi float to top of boiling water, remove them to ice bath using a slotted spoon.
  9. Only put the amount of one potful in the ice bath at a time. As the next batch of gnocchi forms, remove gnocchi from ice bath and place on a cooling rack or paper towel.
  10. Continue with remaining dough, forming dowels, cutting into 1-inch pieces and cooking until all dough is used.
  11. Once all the gnocchi is cooked, heat a large pan to medium-high heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan, and toss half of the gnocchi to coat with melted butter. Heat in the pan until one side browns, then flip over using tongs. Continue cooking until the other side browns, then move gnocchi back to the cooling rack. Once the pan is emptied, melt the other tablespoon of butter in the pan and repeat with remaining gnocchi.
  12. Once the gnocchi cools, place in a sealed container with wax paper to separate layers of gnocchi.
Click to expand...

That is the first step to requiring more flour than necessary. Bake, peel and rice, that is the way to go.:okay:
 
CraigC said:
That is the first step to requiring more flour than necessary. Bake, peel and rice, that is the way to go.:okay:
Click to expand...

Are you saying bake the potatoes rather than boil them? Is that because they retain water from boiling otherwise? Surely if you drain them and let them dry out there isn't a great deal of difference. I have noticed that a lot of gnocchi recipes use baked potatoes though.
 
Looks delicious!
A couple of questions... Re the 00 flour, is it different from all purpose flour? I mostly see 00 flour in Italian pasta recipes. Wondering if it makes a difference. When I made gnocchi many moons ago, you either made a thumb indentation in the finished dough logs, or rolled the gnocchi off the tines of a fork. It helps to make the sauce cling better, and looks pretty in my humble opinion.

Have you made ricotta gnocchi? It's like ravioli gnudi/nudi (sp?) - naked ravioli.
 
Last edited:
Baking dries out the potato some. I've even seen recipes that call for them to be baked on a salt bed. A boiled or even steamed potato is always going to have more moisture, even if cooked whole with skin on. My gnocchi improved greatly when I switched to baking on the advice of a little old Italian lady who made the lightest gnocchi we've ever had.

https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/how-to-make-gnocchi.12455/
 
Last edited:
medtran49 said:
Baking dries out the potato some. I've even seen recipes that call for them to be baked on a salt bed. A boiled or even steamed potato is always going to have more moisture, even if cooked whole with skin on. My gnocchi improved greatly when I switched to baking on the advice of a little old Italian lady who made the lightest gnocchi we've ever had.

https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/how-to-make-gnocchi.12455/
Click to expand...

Thanks for reminding me of your excellent thread. I recall that I even purchased a gnocchi board after reading it - so now I will have to make some for the challenge!
 
Karen W said:
Looks delicious!
A couple of questions... Re the 00 flour, is it different from all purpose flour? I mostly see 00 flour in Italian pasta recipes. Wondering if it makes a difference. When I made gnocchi many moons ago, you either made a thumb indentation in the finished dough logs, or rolled the gnocchi off the tines of a fork. It helps to make the sauce cling better, and looks pretty in my humble opinion.

Have you made ricotta gnocchi? It's like ravioli gnudi/nudi (sp?) - naked ravioli.
Click to expand...

Gnudi - or Ignudi - yes, naked ravioli, only ravioli filling. They are from Tuscany and delicious.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
View attachment 18511

Gnocchi

Making these pillows of potatoey goodness isn't as hard as the many steps below make it look. My family never pan fried the potatoes after boiling, but I like that relatively new development in the recipe, so I've added it in. And, as a personal note, my dad always pronounced "ny-AWE-key" not "ny-OWE-key". He was born in northern Italy, so I consider this to be the Correct pronunciation.

Ingredients

4 lbs russet potatoes
3 cups flour (Italian 00 flour)
1⁄3 cup semolina
1 egg
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Directions

  1. Peel potatoes and boil until they are soft (about 30 minutes). Retain hot water for use later.
  2. While still warm, press through a potato ricer into a large mixing bowl.
  3. Reheat water use to boil potatoes and return to a boil. Set up ice bath with 6 cups ice and 6 cups water near boiling water.
  4. Make well in center of riced potatoes and pour flour on the potatoes. Make a well in the middle of the flour using the back of the measuring scoop. Place egg and salt in center of well and using a fork, stir into flour and potatoes. Once egg is mixed in, kneading gently until a ball is formed. Knead gently until fully blended and ball is dry to touch.
  5. Roll baseball-sized ball (or cricket ball-sized ball) of dough into 3/4-inch diameter dowels. If desired, create a crease down the middle of each dowel. Cut dowels into 1-inch long pieces.
  6. Drop these pieces into boiling water and cook until they float (about 1 minute).
  7. Make sure not to put more than a single layer worth of gnocchi in the water at a time.
  8. As gnocchi float to top of boiling water, remove them to ice bath using a slotted spoon.
  9. Only put the amount of one potful in the ice bath at a time. As the next batch of gnocchi forms, remove gnocchi from ice bath and place on a cooling rack or paper towel.
  10. Continue with remaining dough, forming dowels, cutting into 1-inch pieces and cooking until all dough is used.
  11. Once all the gnocchi is cooked, heat a large pan to medium-high heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan, and toss half of the gnocchi to coat with melted butter. Heat in the pan until one side browns, then flip over using tongs. Continue cooking until the other side browns, then move gnocchi back to the cooling rack. Once the pan is emptied, melt the other tablespoon of butter in the pan and repeat with remaining gnocchi.
  12. Once the gnocchi cools, place in a sealed container with wax paper to separate layers of gnocchi.
Click to expand...

I'm a fan of semolina's flour.
I'm rather intrigued by this: 9. Only put the amount of one potful in the ice bath at a time.
Something new for me to try!
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
I will have to try baking my potatoes next time. I boil them because that’s what Mario Batali does. That, and the results have always been great this way.

But, I’m always open to new ideas...I never stop learning in the kitchen. :smug:
Click to expand...

You've just given me a new idea, I'd say it's perfect!
 
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