An old Fraternity brother of mine, Steve Rod, posted a great picture of a meal his wife Ami made. After a short FaceBook conversation, I told her that I would post “my” recipe for homemade gnocchi once I got home, so here it is. I even found a few pictures of the near finished and finished version, so I decided to add those. In no way am I suggesting that this was better than her meal, just different! Be well and eat heartily!
Basic Gnocchi Recipe (taken from the April 2012 edition of Olive magazine):
- Floury Potatoes, 900g peeled and cubed
- Plain flour, 250g
- Boil potatoes in as little water as possible until just tender. Drain thoroughly and then put back in pan over low heat to dry out moisture.
- Mash the potatoes while they are still warm, season, then slowly add flour, kneading gently and folding over the edges into the center and pressing down lightly before adding additional flour.
- Add enough flour to make the consistency is soft and pillow like (they use “duvet-like”, just make sure it is not too sticky), but don’t overwork the dough.
- Form the dough into little balls, then roll them out into ropes. Cut into 3/4” pieces and then press a fork into each piece to leave indentations and a “curl”
- Cook the gnocchi in plenty of salted water. They are finished when they rise to the top.
- Add sauces and whatnot, then enjoy.
How I make my gnocchi.
Now, I don’t actually boil my potatoes. I bake them @ 350 degrees on a tray of large granule kosher salt (after poking a few holes in them with a fork so they don’t explode) until done, about an hour. Once they are slightly cooled, I cut them in half and using a kitchen towel (don’t want anyone burning their hands) to hold the potato, I scoop the flesh out of each half. In my opinion (one day I will also post my mash-potato recipe!) it makes for a fairly dry potato to begin with so there is not so much water. I then season my gnocchi with dill and cracked pepper.
Here is a picture of a double batch of gnocchi after they have been boiled. You can actually see the dill and cracked pepper!
Once they are complete, I sauté the finished product in a little bit of EVOO, garlic, green & red onion, and canned button mushrooms (you can of course use fresh or any other kind). Then I make a non-dairy cream sauce with margarine, flour (for a roux), and soy milk. Adding a little bit of garlic and cracked pepper for flavor, I then coat the gnocchi with the cream sauce.
Finally, using fresh Portobello mushrooms, garlic & EVOO (of course) … I sauté the fresh mushrooms until golden and top off the gnocchi with the mixture adding fresh parsley for color. Here is the finished product!
And here is the meal I made for Chana Miriam (my wife) when I first made this gnocchi along side some “crispy” salmon.
(Sorry for the bad lighting!)
Note, the original recipe from “Olive” was titled “Gnocchi with Morels” by John Torode. I left out those ingredients and directions as I had my own take on his creation!
I live in Israel now, so I am sorry for the “gram” measurements!