Gnocchi
Welcome back to my A-Z of Potatoes, and we’ve reached the letter G! Many of you guessed this one as who doesn’t love a bit of Gnocchi? Is there anything more wonderful than the meeting of pasta and potato?! Double carbs = double portions. This is probs why me and my boyfriend now have gym memberships.
If you’re looking to make your own pasta from scratch, this is a great option for beginners as you don’t need any specific equipment and it’s kinda fun and therapeutic. I like to shape my gnocchi into little cute pillowy shapes but feel free to get creative and roll with the back of a fork to get that ribbed effect. Is ribbed the right word….grooves maybe? Anyway, once you pick a size and shape, keep it consistent so they all cook evenly!
For more Italian inspired dishes that deliver on the carb front, give my pasta e patate a go – it’s soupy, cheesy and full of hidden veggies #health
Ingredients
- 250g baked mash potato (I'd use around 4 medium Maris Piper potatoes)
- 1 large egg
- Pinch of ground nutmeg (optional)
- 20g finely grated parmesan
- 80g '00' flour (pasta flour), plus extra for dusting
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Firstly, Pre-heat your oven to 180°C Fan.
- Bake off your potatoes for 40-60 minutes until soft and cooked through. Once cooked, scoop out the soft inside and pass through a fine sieve onto a clean surface. Weigh off 250g/9oz.
- Whilst still hot, add your Parmesan and plenty of salt and pepper to the spuds and mix. Then make a well in the centre of this mixture and crack your egg into the well. Get it all combined by hand.
- Once fully combined, add in half of your flour and start to form a dough. Once it begins to come together, add in the other half. As soon as this dough is no longer sticky, stop kneading.
- Take a quarter of the dough and put the rest under a tea towel or cling film so it doesn’t dry up. With your quarter of the dough, gently roll it into a long even shaped sausage, take a knife and cut even-ish sized pillows of soft gnocchi about an inch long. You can leave them like this or use the back of a fork and roll the gnocchi down the back of it to make ridges.
- Continue this with the rest of your dough (keep the dough and gnocchi pieces covered when not using them to prevent them drying up or sticking). Also, keep them on a floured board so they don’t stick!
- In a deep saucepan get some salted water up to the boil.
- Once the water is boiling, cook the gnocchi off. They are ready when they float to the top, this usually takes around 1-2 minutes.