How to make gnocchi

I think when the gnocchi guru talks of baked potatoes it means baked in their jackets not peeled and cut in chunks. Then you scoop out the fluffy potato inside. You won't be able to do this with rutabaga.
 
Yes, bake the potatoes whole. Even whole they shouldn't have taken more than an hour.

Just as a tip, when baking chunked root vegetables relatively dry, I've found it helps to parcook them by steaming (preferred) or microwaving first until they are about half-way done. Try it with 1-1/2 inch to 2 inch chunked potatoes, cool on paper towels so they'll dry a little, then toss with rosemary or thyme or even nothing, salt and pepper and a very good dollop of olive oil (you want enough to coat potatoes well with a little puddling), toss with your hands so everything is coated nicely, then bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes on a foil-lined sheet pan, stirring a couple of times, until they are wonderfully crispy on the outside and fluffy and tender on the inside. Our DD and I had this as a side dish in the Villa Medici in a private group dinner when we were in Rome in January 1999. It's such a plain dish, but so good that I asked how they made them.

Not sure if you were going to use the rutabagas to make gnocchi, but you should be able to; though, since they are "dry" to begin with, I think I would steam them whole or cut in halves if they are really big, mash them with a bit of salt, then let sit in a cheesecloth or single-ply paper towel lined colander overnight, then mix with some riced potatoes. You could probably also wrap them in some foil with a light sprinkle of water and bake. I've done the steaming/draining with butternut squash and they came out great! You have to adjust the egg amount downward some usually with butternut squash, but not sure with rutabaga.

I discovered the draining part of the squash by accident. I had cooked the squash earlier in the day and had intended to make the gnocchi that night, but dinner plans got interrupted because of a family emergency. So, I put the squash in a colander in a big bowl and refrigerated. The next day, I was floored with how much liquid came out. Good thing I had put it in a good size bowl because I would have had a mess otherwise.
 
Thanks! As soon as I wrote it out, part of me started to realize what the problem was. My actual first plan was to use rutabaga entirely, which had to be cooked in chunks. I decided to add potato later because I wasn't sure how well the low starch content would bind without help. Since I had the rutabaga in chunks, I did the same with the potato. Next time, I will try this, but cook the potato whole.
 
Peel and rice the potato(es) while still nice and warm but not so hot you can't handle. Don't let them cool to room temp or put in fridge.

The above is very important to note. Don't overbake the potatoes either. The insides should be white and fluffy.
 
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medtran49 said:
I don't really have a recipe and neither did the Italian nona that told me how to make them. She just described the general gist of it and then I practiced and also took in tips from other sources over the years but here goes.

You need to use a starchy potato. I use the large Russet baking potatoes, the ones that are about 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 inches long, like the ones you get for bakers in a good steakhouse. One of them is enough for an appy for 2 people. I used 2 for a recent meal for 2 and we only had enough leftovers for a small snack.

The last few batches of gnocchi I have made, I've only had older potatoes in the house that had just started to sprout. They have made the best gnocchi I've ever made.

DO NOT boil or steam the potatoes, not even in their jackets. Boiling/steaming adds water, which makes you need to add more flour, which leads to lead sinkers. Microwave or preferably bake the potatoes until done. You can even bake them on a salt bed to draw more moisture out. Use a starchy potato. The last batch was made with 1 very large baking potato since it was an experiment, besides the fact that I didn't want to make a lot anyway. It was a perfect amount for a good sized appy portion for 2. (this tutorial was written at a different time, last batch I actually made, which is when the pictures were taken, was from 2 large potatoes)

Peel and rice the potato(es) while still nice and warm but not so hot you can't handle. Don't let them cool to room temp or put in fridge. They will get gummy. Add salt generously. White or black pepper too if you want, even a pinch of nutmeg. Toss (use hands) with the riced potatoes.

Most recipes call for whole eggs at this point. What I've discovered is that using mostly egg white, with just a little yolk mixed in seems to make them lighter. So, with just the 1 large egg for the 1 potato the other night, I broke egg into a small bowl, whipped the egg white w/o breaking the yolk until the white was well broken up, then barely broke the yolk and mixed about half of it in. Poured egg (minus the rest of the yolk) in with the riced potatoes and gently mixed.

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You can use cake flour. Cake flour won't form gluten (which leads to toughness) like regular flour will. I have been using regular flour though lately because I keep forgetting to buy cake flour. Just lighten it by scooping up and letting fall back down or putting it thru a sifter or wire strainer. Started with about 1/3 cup and gently mixed (adding a bit of flour as needed) until I got a fairly soft, very slightly sticky, smooth dough, then kneaded a couple of times on a lightly floured board. DO NOT overwork the mix, handle it as gently as possible. In the picture below, you can see the outside of the dough is smooth but the inside is soft and rough.

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Pinch off a good amount (I did about thirds with the large baker) and roll on a lightly floured board into a log about an inch thick. Cut off about inch long pieces.

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You can either leave the pieces as is or roll them on a gnocchi board or off the back of a fork to make a little indention on the opposite side and riged marks on the other. Rolling them off the fork (or using a gnocchi board) gives more surface area to cook faster plus more area for sauce to cling.

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As you can see, the forked gnocchi have wider and deeper spaced grooves, while the gnocchi boarded ones are a bit finer but they both still curve slightly and have an indention on the bottom side from your finger.
Place the gnocchi into medium boiling, heavily salted water. Don't crowd the pan, think single layer. I let about half of them float and then start scooping into a colander to drain. Don't let them sit in the water and cook after floating, they will absorb water and become heavy. Sometimes you have to gently swirl the water with a spoon if they are being stubborn about floating after 2-3 minutes. I usually give the colander a bit of a shake to make sure all the water is off after I drop in each batch. Cook gnocchi in batches until all are done then proceed on with your recipe.

It took me several tries when I first started making these before I managed not to make lead sinkers or close to them. You'll want to add more flour. DON'T. You need to get a feel for the dough so that you don't have gnocchi that come apart when boiled or lead sinkers. Start small and get a feel for the dough. 1 potato and some flour won't break the bank in money or your time if it flops. You can always pinch a piece off, shape it and cook it to see if it will fall apart as you are adding in flour while you are learning.

Ways to use, and there are many, many more than this list.

Place in a buttered oven safe dish, top with a red sauce, bake for 10-15 minutes to warm thru, top with cheese, return to oven to melt/slightly brown cheese.

Gnocchi with sage butter. While you are making the dough, place about 3/4 stick unsalted butter in a sauté pan with some sage leaves, torn in large pieces or left whole if small leaves, and let gently simmer on low for a couple of minutes, then pull off heat to infuse the butter. Add S and P. When you are ready to finish the dish, remove the sage pieces from the butter (they'll get burned and nasty if you don't) and turn heat to just over medium. Add in gnocchi and saute to get them to just a light golden brown on each side. When you turn them over make a little spot and throw in some sage leaves that have been chiffonaded. When both sides are brown, remove gnocchi to serving dishes and drizzle some of the browned butter (be careful and watch so it doesn't burn and become blackened butter) and some of the freshly sautéed sage leaves. Top with parm cheese if desired. We tried them with and w/o parm. They were good w/o, but parm added a whole nother taste level so go with your tastes.

I've been thinking about doing an alla vodka sauce with pancetta with gnocchi instead of pasta but haven't done it yet. On my to do list.
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Thanks so much for this, I've never made this either, but I will be trying this when it warms up a bit here.

Russ
 
We were watching a DDD episode where the chef made clam chowder gnocchi. He used a tamis to rice the potatoes, then added the whole eggs, chives, S&P, and a bit of butter, then mixed it altogether and formed into a rectangle. Then he dumped the flour on top, cut the rectangle in half, stacked 1/2 on top of the other, patted down, repeated until he got the dough texture he wanted, cut off an edge, rolled into a log, then proceeded as normal.

Clam chowder gnocchi is in our near future, and I think I'll give the above method a try.
 
medtran49 said:
We were watching a DDD episode where the chef made clam chowder gnocchi. He used a tamis to rice the potatoes, then added the whole eggs, chives, S&P, and a bit of butter, then mixed it altogether and formed into a rectangle. Then he dumped the flour on top, cut the rectangle in half, stacked 1/2 on top of the other, patted down, repeated until he got the dough texture he wanted, cut off an edge, rolled into a log, then proceeded as normal.

Clam chowder gnocchi is in our near future, and I think I'll give the above method a try.
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I will have to try this, too. It's stew and chowder season after all!
 
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