Homemade Potato Gnocchi
In Argentina, gnocchi are eaten on the 29th of every month. The custom comes from Italian immigrants: at the end of the month money was short, and potatoes with flour were what was left. Traditionally you put a banknote under the plate — for prosperity in the month ahead.
The potatoes are boiled whole and in their skins. Peeled and cut up they soak up water, and wet potatoes need more flour — more flour gives heavy, rubbery gnocchi. All the rest of the technique hangs on that one step.
And the dough is kneaded as little as possible. It should just hold together, no more.
They go with bolognese, four-cheese sauce, sauce parisienne or a simple pesto.
Ingredients
- 1 kg potatoes (evenly sized, skins on)
- 250-300 g all-purpose flour (plain flour), plus extra for the worktop
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp fine salt
- A pinch of nutmeg
- Grated cheese to serve (optional)
Method
- 1
Boil the potatoes whole and in their skins in salted water until they are tender when pierced. Cooking them whole and unpeeled stops them absorbing water, which is the main secret to not needing extra flour.
- 2
Peel them while hot and mash them very finely with a masher or a potato ricer. Spread the mash on the worktop and let it steam off for a few minutes.
- 3
Form a crown, add the egg, the salt and the nutmeg, and work the flour in a little at a time, kneading the absolute minimum until you have a tender dough that barely comes away from your hands.
- 4
Take portions, roll them into ropes about 2 cm thick, cut the gnocchi and mark them with a fork or a gnocchi board so they hold the sauce.
- 5
Cook them in batches in plenty of boiling salted water: when they rise to the surface, wait a few seconds and lift them out with a slotted spoon. Serve immediately with the sauce of your choice.
Sauces
You eat with your eyes first, but it is the sauce that settles it: dry pasta never competes with a properly sauced plate. Here is a selection of the best homemade sauces, all easy to make, along with tips for keeping them.
