Homemade Potato Gnocchi is easy to make!

I was delighted to dig up some potatoes in my vegetable patch quite accidentally whilst preparing a discarded corner of the garden for new spring seedlings. Not to ‘look a gift horse in the mouth’, as my grandmother would say, my 15 year old foodie whipped up a batch of gnocchi.

Delicious.

I haven’t made this potato dish for ages and we were inspired to make this fresh Italian-style dumpling from scratch, particularly as fresh ingredients were literally at our fingertips. Poached, these starch-based dumplings are served as a starter or main-course often in a pasta-type sauce, or baked in the oven like a gratin topped with cheese or breadcrumb. While gnocchi can be made from cornmeal or semolina, to date I’ve only ever experimented with potato.  Floury potatoes work best.

It is so easy to make you’ll be pinching yourself you haven’t made these sooner!

The trick is to ensure the potato gnocchi dough is starchy enough so before poaching, test the dough with a clean finger to ensure there is no residue. If there is to much moisture you’ll need to add more flour, preferably potato flour.

These are just so moreish freshly made. As I think of them as fancy mashed potato, as there are only a few extra ingredients to transform it into gnocchi, I think I’ll be making them more often too. As with pasta, it is as much about the sauce you serve it with to carry the flavour than the gnocchi itself.

There is also a variation made from pumpkin – therefore kumara, our sweet potato, must also be of gnocchi worthy. I can’t wait to experiment more.

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Potato Gnocchi

Serves: 2 main-sized portions

Ingredients

  • 2 potatoes, floury is best
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 egg
  • 30g butter
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 30g butter, melted
  • extra Parmesan cheese, to serve
  • fresh herbs, to serve
  • pasta sauce or your favourite*!

Method

  1. Peel potatoes, cover with water and boil in saucepan until soft. Drain well and allow to dry in the hot saucepan (to remove as much moisture as possible), then mash. Add flour, yolk, egg, butter, cheese, garlic, nutmeg, salt and pepper to potato. Mix together to form a dough.
  2. On a floured board, knead into a ball then roll out to form a tube-like shape. Cut into small bite-sized pieces. Using your hands, shape each piece into oval shapes of similar size.
  3. Meanwhile, have a saucepan of salted water simmering. Poach the gnocchi in this water for approximately 3 minutes. It doesn’t take long. The gnocchi will float to the surface once cooked.  Drain the water off, and toss the cooked gnocchi in melted butter. *Serve in a tomato based pasta sauce, a Mornay sauce, or even toss through pesto to serve — topped with fresh herbs and shaved Parmesan cheese.

Until next time — happy urban homesteading!

Julie-C