Features:
Difficulty:
- Easy
- Preparation: 45/60min
- Servings: 3/4
Note: Try to use old (a bit dry) potatoes.
You can serve gnocchi with lots of different sauces such as: Sorrentina, Pesto, Four cheeses, Bolognese and many more…
Ingredients:
- 35oz Potatoes (Old and a bit dry)
- 1 Egg
- 2 Cups 00’ Flour or All-purpose flourPinch of salt
GNOCCHI STORY
Gnocchi is a very old recipe in the Italian culture, there are signs of it back in the 16th Century.
In the past the idea of gnocchi was a bit different, we could define them as a “mixture of flour and different ingredients, cut in small cylinders and boiled”
Pretty generic, isn’t it?
We have to wait until the beginning of the 17th century to have the most and well-known version of potatoes. The arrival of the first potato from the “New World” was the real game-changer.
The gnocchi was a recipe so important for the poor people that became part of the ancient weekly food routine of the Romans citizen: Thursday Gnocchi, Friday Fish, Saturday Tripe.
The reason for this peculiar routine, oddly, wasn’t only related to the strong Christian culinary habits but also with the butchers’ business routine.
Thursday was the day that precedes the “lean Friday” where no meat or heavy food could be eaten.
Thursday was the day of the carbo-load, Friday the fish. But why the tripe on Saturday?
Well, the butchers used to prepare the most precious cuts of meat for the weekend feasts of the aristocracy.
All the leftovers included the tripe used to be sold on Saturday morning at a very cheap price and cooked the same day to prevent getting bad, old and chewy!
Anyway, back to the gnocchi, well what else to say, they are good, really good in every way, boiled, fried, with a meat sauce or floating in a cheese sauce!
Find your preferred combination!
How to do gnocchi
1. Boil old potatoes with the peel in abundant boiling water for about 35/45 minutes (depends on the size of the potato). To check if they are ready, you should be able to stick a fork easily in it.
2. Peel the potatoes while still warm.
3. Smash it with a potato masher or a fork.
4. Make a “volcano” with the mashed potatoes and then create a “crater” at the centre.
5. Crack an egg in it and add a pinch of salt.
6. Start to mix the two ingredients.
7. Add flour step by step.
8. Start kneading the dough adding flour only when the dough is too sticky (5/8 minutes).
9. Make a ball of dough and cover with a bit of flour.
10. Cut a piece and roll it like a cylinder (half of an inch thick).
11. Cut the gnocchi about half of an inch wide.
12. Check if the gnocchi are good by boiling a small sample of them into boiling salted water.
13. If they are too soft add a bit of flour. If too hard, use less flour next time.
14. Finish cutting the rest of your dough.
15. Boil it for about 60 seconds in salted boiling water and serve it with your favourite sauce.
Here there are the others video recipes you can watch to make authentic italian dishes.
