2015 Cooking Club Week 13 Potato Gnocchi

Moody_mona

This is a really simple recipe. I love it because it makes me feel like I'm making my own proper pasta in my tiny kitchen  


This recipe serves four people. 


Five medium sized potatoes suitable for mashing 

One cup of plain flour (maybe more, plus some for dusting) 

One egg

Salt and pepper 


Two onions

250g of mushrooms 

Two carrots 

One courgette

Tin of tomatoes 

Tomato puree

Parmesan 

Italian mixed herbs 


Boil or steam the potatoes with skin on. Steaming is best as it limits the water absorbed. I don't have a steamer or metallic colander so I boil until ALMOST cooked and then microwave for the last few minutes. 

Remove the skin, mash the potato, with a ricer if possible, and leave to cool slightly. 

The potato doesn't have to be cold, I just don't like adding the egg to it hot. Sieve the flour in, dig a well, add the egg and combine. Ideally this would be done on a counter but a bowl did me fine. Remember to season well at this point. 

The dough should come together firmly, add more flour if necessary but the more you add the heavier the gnocchi will taste. 

Knead the dough lightly and split into quarters. Roll into a sausage shape and cut into even chunks. The gnocchi can be "decorated" with a fork impression. Continue with the other quarters.

Place in boiling salted water for about four minutes; the gnocchi will have floated to the top. Don't overcrowd the pot. Remove with a slotted spoon. 

The gnocchi can be fried lightly in butter at this point if you prefer that texture. 


I served mine with a ratatouille style thing.

Soften the thinly sliced onion in a little oil and garlic. 

Add sliced mushrooms and sauté until the water has come out and evaporated. 

Add "peels" (with a vegetable peeler) of courgette and carrot. Soften these and add a squeeze of tomato puree and basil/thyme/oregano to taste (I use dried herbs). 

Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and simmer on a low heat for about 15/20 minutes. 

Serve over the gnocchi with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

Toto Wolfcastle

I love gnocchi. Definitely giving this a go.

confusticated

Could you keep these in the fridge or freezer before boiling? I cook for just me mostly, and can't get a fifth of an egg!

Moody_mona

confusticated wrote: »

Could you keep these in the fridge or freezer before boiling? I cook for just me mostly, and can't get a fifth of an egg!

Definitely.

For the fridge, I wrap it in cling film before cutting it up and then just roll it out from there. I'd use it the next day.

For freezing, this method doesn't work as well because you have to thaw a lump. So instead, I cut into the individual pieces, lay them out flat and freeze. Then once they're frozen, they can be put together into a bag or whatever. If you cut them first they'll all stick together, you could give them a nice sprinkle of flour and hope for the best though! Throw them straight into the boiling water to cook, and just wait for them to float as normal

confusticated

Thanks a million, made this yesterday because I needed a quick dinner tonight, so made up the dough, froze 3/4 and left the last quarter in the fridge. It turned a very appetising greyish colour, spuds were at the end of their lifetime and I may have overdone it on the pepper a bit. I rolled it anyway, cut it and cooked it, with a frozen pizza on standby. So glad I did! They were really good, like gnocchi I've had in a restaurant, and there's so little work in them! They're definitely going on my regular list and I have a giant freezer bag full of them now for future dinners (possibly including tomorrow). I did make them a little bit too big, will watch that for next time.

No photo because they didn't change colour and were, frankly, extremely ugly. But delicious!

Toto Wolfcastle

Made this today. Well I made the gnocchi yesterday but I was too sick to have it so I froze it. Turned out really well. I had a creamy bacon and broccoli sauce with it and it was really nice. Thanks for the recipe. I've always wanted to make gnocchi!

Moody_mona

Excellent, glad you guys liked them!

Malari

I tried these out last night! Perhaps a weight of potatoes would be more helpful, as my 'medium sized' potatoes seemed to get VERY wet and sticky when I added the egg, so I needed to add a fair bit more flour to get a workable dough.

But they cooked very quickly and I fried them in a little butter and garlic, added a spoon of truffle pesto and topped with parmasan and it was lovely! I'll be doing them again I think, but maybe I'd add a ricer to my list of desired kitchen implements because there was a lump or two of potato in the dough!

IvyTheTerrible

I made these last night, they were lovely, thanks!
We also loved the tomato sauce with the "ribbons" of courgette and carrot, I'll be doing these again.

Tilly

How hard is this to make. I know you said it was simple but how simple. Would it take long? I love gnocchi and would love to try it but feel i could mess even the simple things up :P

Malari

Tilly wrote: »

How hard is this to make. I know you said it was simple but how simple. Would it take long? I love gnocchi and would love to try it but feel i could mess even the simple things up :P

I found them easy enough, but I did make a mess :pac: That's only cause I was badly organised, and realised I wasn't using a large enough bowl half way though, and I'm also in a new kitchen, so couldn't find anything Plus I had a couple of onlookers, which always makes me anxious in the kitchen!

I reckon peel the potatoes and chop into smallish chunks before boiling or steaming to speed up the process. Use a nice big pot so the mixing will be easy. Only tip out onto a board to roll and cut up when the dough is together.

Also, it takes seconds to cook in a pot of boiling water, so it's ready to eat very quickly!

Tilly

Right i'm gonna try this at the weekend, thanks Malari + Moody Mona

jrby

adding a little ricotta to the mixture makes a nice addition, I tend to fry them and serve with some spicy tomato sauce and some parmesam (all put under the grill to crisp up)

Malari

Tilly wrote: »

Right i'm gonna try this at the weekend, thanks Malari + Moody Mona

Good luck, let us know how you get on!

jrby wrote: »

adding a little ricotta to the mixture makes a nice addition, I tend to fry them and serve with some spicy tomato sauce and some parmesam (all put under the grill to crisp up)

I had some left over the next day, so I sweated some aubergine, tomato and peppers with basil in a pan, added the gnocchi, topped with cheese, and baked in the oven. Noms!

Moody_mona

Thanks for all the feedback love the idea of putting them under the grill or in the oven!

Sorry I never saw your post Tilly, they are very simple honestly! The flour is the messiness part I find, so I tend to add it a bit at a time. Did you try making them yet?

Tilly

I may have being enjoying myself a little too much last weekend to make them (or anything kind of proper food). Defo will in the next few days