Recipe: Homemade Gnocchi

September 28, 2015

Recipe: Homemade Gnocchi

Both sides of my family have European roots. My dad's side of the family is Slovak and my mom's side of the family is Italian. I love making dishes that hail from each side but tend to lean more toward the Italian side. One dish I've always wanted to make from scratch were gnocchi but I was just too intimidated. It seemed they were so delicate and I just wasn't convinced I could do it. Until a friend of mine posted that she had made some and they were really easy. "Okay" I thought "I can do this".

I'm a part of a group called the Secret Recipe Club. We are assigned blogs and make recipes from those blogs to reveal on a given day. Anyways, for my September assignment I decided to make Chicken and gnocchi soup (see previous post). I decided this would be my opportunity to make my own gnocchi. I looked up a few recipes and really, it's just a matter of ratios. I found one recipe that used ricotta cheese which sounded great, but I didn't have any of that handy.

I discovered that every recipe called for the use of a ricer, which of course is the one kitchen tool I don't own. Thank the Lord for Google, because I hunted around and it is possible to make them without a ricer. My friend who made them actually put everything into a food processor and just mixed it. Another recipe used a cheese grater to grate the potatoes. I opted for the grater method because I like to stick to being as close to a recipe as possible. I do think next time I will try the food processor just because it seems so easy.

Would I make these from scratch again? Totally. They really weren't hard. I'd love to try several different recipes adding flavors, etc.

Ingredients:

3 potatoes
1 1/2 c. flour
1 egg
1 tsp. salt

Instructions:

1. Bake potatoes. Allow to cool enough to handle then peel. If you have a ricer, use that, but if not, grate potatoes on the large side of a grater.

2. Make a well in the middle and add egg and salt. Gradually sprinkle in flour and begin working with your hands. Add enough flour so that the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Continue incorporating and knead with your hands for 3-4 minutes once all the flour is added.

3. Form dough in to ball and then cut in to smaller pieces. Roll each individual piece into a rope with your fingers, about 3/4" thick. Cut off 1" pieces (or smaller).

4. Traditional gnocchi has ridges but I just couldn't get them using the fork when I tried...you might want to just google this..lol.

5. When ready, boil and lightly salt some water. Drop gnocchi in to water, don't overcrowd. When they rise to the top, cook for one minute more and remove. At this point you can add to soup, cook on the stove top in butter or do whatever you please.

6. You can also freeze these for use later. DO NOT boil, but place on a lightly floured cookie sheet, freeze, then place in a ziploc bag. When ready to use, just drop in boiling water.