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potato gnocchi

Potato gnocchi – easy recipe

Gnocchi may have been the first form of homemade pasta, and the use of potato added extra flavor while keeping the starchy texture. To make this tasty Italian dish you need a little time and patience.

  • Prep: 20 minutes
  • Serves: 4 
  • Cook: 40 minutes
  • Difficulty level: easy 

Ingredients

  • 1 kg of potatoes 
  • 300 g quality flour 
  • 1 medium egg 
  • salt to taste
  • durum wheat semolina re-milled to taste

Egg-free version

  • 1 kg of potatoes 
  • 300 g quality flour 
  • salt up to 15 g
  • durum wheat semolina re-milled to taste

Instructions

Start by boiling the potatoes in a large pot. From the moment the water is boiling, count about 30-40 minutes, depending on their size; if they can be pierced easily with a fork then they are ready. Peel them while they are still hot and immediately crush them on the flour bed that you have poured on the pastry board. 

Add the lightly beaten egg together with a pinch of salt and mix everything with your hands until you get a soft but compact dough. 

Do not work it too much, the gnocchi will become hard during cooking, so just slightly knead the dough. 

Take a part of the dough and roll it out with your fingertips to obtain a rounded strip, that is 2 centimeters thick; flour the pastry board, occasionally, with semolina to help roll it.

Cover the remaining dough with a tea towel to prevent it from drying out.

Then cut the rolls into chunks, and by pressing lightly with your thumb, drag them on the gnocchi row to obtain the classic shape. If you don’t have the gnocchi row, you can use a fork and drag them on the prongs; also, in this case, use semolina flour to avoid sticking. 

As you prepare the potato gnocchi, place them on a tray with a lightly floured cloth, well-spaced from each other. If you intend to cook them, you can pour them in boiling salted water; as soon as the gnocchi comes to the surface they are considered cooked and therefore ready to be drained and seasoned.

For the egg-free version

Crush the potatoes while still hot on the pastry board with the help of a potato masher, add the flour and salt and knead with your hands to obtain a soft but compact mixture.

Take a portion of the dough at a time and spread it with your fingertips to form rolls 2 cm thick. thumb. Cook the eggless dumplings in plenty of boiling salted water and drain as soon as they come to the surface.

Storage

The potato gnocchi can still be kept raw by leaving them on the cloth for a couple of hours at most, in this case, the cooking will be slightly longer because they will have dried in the air.

You can also freeze the dumplings. Put the tray in the freezer and after about 20 minutes put the potato dumplings in a food bag, and continue until you have frozen them all.

To cook them, simply throw them in boiling salted water without defrosting them first.

Tips

If you want to make your potato gnocchi more special, use coloring ingredients such as turmeric for a yellowish color or a hint of tomato concentrate, as in the recipe for red gnocchi with marjoram and bacon pesto.

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