Step 1- Cook the potatoes
Wash your potatoes thoroughly without peeling them. Boiling them unpeeled lessens the water that penetrates the potatoes while they’re cooking. Water is a gnocchi downfall. This is also why you must use the exact cooking time. Avoid piercing them during cooking as it’ll allow water to get in. Small potatoes take 10–15 minutes to boil; medium 20–25 minutes; large 35–45 minutes. If you’re unsure about your cooking time, boil one extra potato that you’ll use to test.
Step 2- Mash the potatoes
Once your potatoes are done, drain them and let them cool until you can handle them. Peel the potatoes and mash them into a large bowl- the tool that will help you breeze through this step is a potato ricer. It guarantees lump-free gnocchi. If you don’t have a ricer, mash your potatoes with a fork (like I did) or a potato masher. Pay extra attention to make sure you eliminate as many lumps as possible.
Let the mashed potatoes cool to room temperature.
Step 3- Prepare the dough
Mix flour and salt together in a small bowl. Mix the mashed potatoes with the egg yolks and olive oil. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the potatoes and mix gently until the flour is moistened and the dough looks crumbly.Lightly flour your work surface. Put your dough on the surface. Knead it gently to incorporate the flour- press on the dough with your hands, fold it in half, turn it by a quarter turn and press it again. You should do this for about 1 minute- over-kneading is another gnocchi downfall. It leads to a tough, rubbery texture.After kneading, your dough should feel soft and smooth. If it sticks to your work surface, sprinkle a bit more flour — but keep in mind that you must limit the amount of flour you add to the gnocchi to make sure they don’t become heavy and dense.
When you dough is ready, put it in a bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel.
Step 4- Roll and cut the dough into bites
Clean your work surface, dry it thoroughly and sprinkle lightly with flour. Tear off a lemon-size piece of dough and roll it into a rope (about 3/4 in. diameter). Use knife to cut squares.Now two choices- leave gnocchi plain, looking like miniature pillows, or indent them using a gnocchi board or a fork.
Leaving them plain is a good choice when you want to fry them in butter, or serve them with a classic brown butter. I really like the crunchy texture it renders, a nice contrast to the creamy interior.As you roll your gnocchi, arrange them in a single layer on baking sheets, making sure they don’t touch. Gnocchi are best cooked within 2–3 hours of being made (keep at room temperature).
To freeze- put the gnocchi on the baking sheets straight into the freezer. Once hard, transfer to freezer bags They’ll keep for two months.
Step 5- Cook the gnocchi 12-15 at a time in salted water. place in cling wrapped bowl while doing next batch.
Originally Submitted
11/15/2011
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