Potato Gnocchi
Servings 6
Prep time
20 minsCook time
1 H & 20 MTotal time
1 H & 40 MThese pillows of potato heaven are the perfect Italian pasta to make if you don’t have a pasta machine.
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Wash and thoroughly dry potatoes then bake until soft (about 1 hour). Set aside to cool slightly then while still warm, press through a potato ricer or sieve into a large bowl, discarding skins.
- Using 1kg of the potato flesh, make a well in the centre and add egg, salt, nutmeg and some of the flour. Mix well then keep adding flour until you feel the dough come together (add more flour only if dough feels sticky).
- Place a large piece of baking paper on the bench or a large wooden board, dust with flour and lightly flatten dough into a rough square about 1½cm thick. Cut in strips 1½cm wide—a plastic dough cutter is good for this because it won’t scratch.
- Keeping your hands dusted with flour, roll strips in skinny sausage shapes on a not-too-floury part of the bench or board, then move them onto a more floury part while you roll the other strips.
- Cut rolls in 1½cm pieces. Roll these over the tines of a fork to give the traditional ridged shell shape if you wish, but it’s not essential. Keep gnocchi on a floured tray (they can be free-flow frozen at this stage).
- To cook, drop gnocchi into a large saucepan of heavily salted boiling water. Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon as soon as they float to the surface.
- In a frying pan over medium heat, add butter and sage leaves and heat until sage turns crispy. Add gnocchi to pan and coat completely in the sage butter. Finish with pepper and Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve.
Simon says ...
00 flour—also known as doppio zero (double zero)—is a super-fine white flour from Italy, and considered the gold standard for making pasta and pizza bases.
Take care to ensure potatoes are cooked and dry when put through the sieve or ricer, or your gnocchi will be heavy and grainy.
Gnocchi freeze well, so you can pull them out for a last-minute meal and finish with sage butter.