Gnocchi della Patata - Recipe

Those of you who know me will be aware that I recently started dating a lovely Italian girl.

Unfortunately, she is both vegetarian, and not terribly good in the kitchen, so I tend to do most of the cooking.

Not being terribly au fait with veggie food, I've largely been winging it, but thankfully I'm pretty good at pulling a rabbit (or rather carrot) out of a hat when I need to.

Now a few weeks back we were invited to go for a pub lunch with some friends at a fairly posh gastro pub near my flat. Not being particularly adventurous at times, I was a bit worried about what I might have as the menu changed daily. I needn't have worried, as they were serving Potato Gnocchi with a parmesan cream. Lush.

I'd never actually tried Gnocchi before, but ever since I've been hooked. Whilst the dried ones from the supermarket weren't bad, I was hankering to try knocking some together myself.

This is what I have come up with:

Ingredients

Two large potatoes
Plain Flour
Salt and Pepper

Notes: Potatoes must be starchy "old" ones. Don't use Waxy spuds or you'll end up with balls of glue!

Method

1. Prick the skins, then nuke the potatoes in the microwave for 15 minutes or so until cooked through
2. Cut the potatoes in half, then use a spoon to scoop out the inards into a mixing bowl.
3. Mash thoroughly with some salt and pepper to taste.
4. Sprinkle in some plain flour and mix with your fingers.
   
5. Keep adding a little more flour and mixing it in until the dough stays together and is smooth/soft. It should be about 4 parts potato to 1 part flour.
6. On a floured surface, roll out a long "sausage" of dough, then cut into sections about half an inch long.
7. Using the tines of a fork, make a nice neat mark of four bars on the peice of dough. You now have your first Gnocchi!
8. Rinse and repeat until all the Gnocchi are assembled (keep them on a floured plate, and dust with flour).
9. You may have to put the dough in the fridge for a while if it's too sticky to work with.

Bodge Fix

If you find that your potatoes are too waxy and the mixture is quite "sticky", DON'T be tempted to add lots of flour, otheriwse you'll end up with leaden balls which willnot be very nice to eat.

What I did instead, was place all of my Gnocchi on a floured baking tray and bake in an oven for a few minutes to firm them up (200, turn off as soon as you put the tray in).

Then I proceeded to cook them as normal - See below.


Preparation

The cooking is the same as for pasta, but takes a lot less time.

1. Bring a pan of salted water to a rolling boil
2. Stir the water to create a swirl
3. Drop in a few Gnocchi in different points they should sink - do them in batches
4. When cooked, the Gnocchi will rise to the surface
5. Remove the cooked Gnocchi with a slotted spoon and set aside in a heated dish whilst you cook the remaining dumplings.
6. Dress with your favourite sauce and serve!