Gnocchi question

Drea

Hmm sounds like strange stuff. Would it be okay with tomato and marscapone sauce? I'm not much good with cooking, I much prefer to chuck some sort of pre made sauce in

Fifer

Yes, that would be fine. Drop the gnocci in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain, add the heated sauce, enjoy! Not strange, just delicious.

Drea

Brilliant, thanks I'll get some in my delivery on Monday

Caterina

You can make gnocchi at home, it is a bit of a lengthy process but really easy and worthwhile - good to involve kids, for them it is a little like playing with playdough!

Here's how:

Skin, quarter and steam (rather than boil so they don't get soggy) 1 kg potatoes, the floury types are the best, check with your greengrocer - King Edwards are good for it.

When the potatoes are cooked mash them finely, the best way is to use a potato ricer and pass them through it twice. Do not, REPEAT DO NOT food process as you will get a mess!

Using your hands, carefully as it will be quite hot, mix the potato mash with plain flour, 00 is best but regular flour will do - it is difficult to say how much you need, start with 150 g and see how much flour is absorbed by the potatoes, and if necessary add some more.

Before you add too much flour it is worth doing a little test, by boiling a small pan of water and dropping in a couple of little dollops (2cm diameter or so) of dough in the boiling water. If the dough disintegrates or goes really pappy and floppy, then you need more flour. If the dollops come up to the surface nice and whole get them out with a slotted spoon and taste them - they should be compact but not rock hard. If they are rock hard you have added too much flour (but hey, you learn to make gnocchi by FEEL not WEIGHT! Consider it a learning experience, eat the hard gnocchi and hope for the best next time!).

Once you are satisfied that the dough has the right consistency, gently roll into sausages of 2 cm diameter, on a floured surface to avoid stickiness, and then cut into short (also 2 cm or so) chunks.

Take each of these chunks gently and roll them with your thumb in the inside of the prongs of a fork, so that one surface is decorated by the fork and the other has a small cavity made by your thumb (hope this is clear, wish I had a camera and I'd show you but you will have to go by FEEL again!).

You can also do this in the inside of a curved cheese grater, and the pattern will be diamonds instead of stripes, pretty!

Let the processed chunks rest to dry a bit then cook in plenty of salted boiling water, IN SMALL BATCHES!!! This is really important to avoid ending up with an almighty mess of potatoey glue.

Once the gnocchi come to the surface, they are cooked, it does not take much more than a couple of minutes. Quickly scoop them up with a slotted spoon and put in a wide serving dish (do not pile them too much on top of each other to avoid sticky mess).

Dress with tomato sauce and abundant grated parmesan. If lazy and can't be bothered to make tomato sauce, dress with butter and parmesan, still great.

Fiddly but worth the effort, once you have the HM stuff to a T you will never want to go back to shop-bought!

Buon appetito

Caterina

squeaky

Here's a recipe if you'd like to make your own...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/gnocchi-recipe2/index.html

Edit:- Crossed with Caterina. Too slow me

Caterina

Wotcha Squeaky!

Beware of imitations! The reason I did not post links from the internet is because any gnocchi recipe that asks to add oil and egg is NOT NOT NOT the authentic recipe!!!

Of course, why not try different ways, but I have posted the guaranteed, 100% true Italian recipe that my Auntie Nina made for my mother as she was expecting me, and she gave birth to me shortly after having a great big portion of these gnocchi.

I learnt the recipe from her when I was a little girl!

So there!

LOL

Caterina

PS good to see you back around Squeaky!

gairlochgal

I chucked some shop bought gnocchi into a bolognese sauce last night in the interests of stretching, and it was lovely.

belfastgirl23

molto grazie caterina!

I am def going to try making these over christmas.

Do they freeze by the way?

Caterina

Hi BelfastGirl,

In the past I have frozen the dough and then once defrosted made the gnocchi, adding a little more flour if it got pappy, but I have never actually frozen made up gnocchi.

I suppose if you freeze them flat on a baking sheet and then put them in a bag once they are frozen solid, they might be ok - my only concern would be the stickiness as they defrost. Good luck if you try, let us know the results of the experiment!

Caterina

Obukit

If you want really quick gnocchi, you can always make up half a packet (125g) of instant mash (I substitute the milk for water). Then add 8 oz of plain flour plus some herbs, pepper, chilli or whatever to taste, then mix until you have a stiff dough.

You can then make then pretty Caterina's way or else just roll them into sausages, cut into 1" pieces and put in boiling water then fish out when they float to the surface.

Not as nice as authentic ones but better than Mr T's and they only cost about 20p for dozens!