Basic Potato Gnocchi
If you think you don’t like potato gnocchi, you’ve probably been subjected to some heavy, leaden mistakes. The good news is that it’s relatively easy to make your own, and following a few rules produces light, fluffy dumplings every time. First, it’s essential to use russet (baking) potatoes, and to bake them with their skins on to ensure they don’t soak up excess water from boiling and turn soggy. Peel the potatoes as soon as you can handle them, and mix the dough gently while the potatoes are still warm. If you’re nervous about the consistency of your dough, simply blanch a test gnocchi in boiling water before forming and shaping them. If it falls apart in the water, you need to add a little more flour to the dough.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet. Rub them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then place in the oven and bake for about 1 hour, or until tender. Transfer the potatoes to a rack and let rest until cool enough to handle.
Step 2
Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Put the potatoes through a ricer, letting them fall onto the parchment and discarding the skins as you go. Spread the potatoes out on the parchment and allow them to rest until warm, but not hot enough to cook the egg yolks. Gather up the parchment and dump the potatoes into a medium-size bowl.
Step 3
Add the egg yolks to the potatoes and stir to combine. Sprinkle the flour over the top of the mixture and knead gently in the bowl until the egg and flour are distributed. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and continue to knead, adding extra flour as necessary, until the dough is no longer sticky.
Step 4
Divide the dough into quarters. Roll each quarter into a log about 1/2 inch in diameter, then cut crosswise into 1-inch intervals. If your recipe calls for sautéing the gnocchi, you can leave them as little dumplings. If you want to create ridges to hold sauce, you can use either a gnocchi paddle or the tines of a fork. For the gnocchi paddle, roll each dumpling gently but firmly diagonally across the paddle, letting each dumpling fall onto a well-floured sheet pan as you finish. To use a fork, invert the fork so that the tines point down. Starting at the tines nearest the handle, roll the dumpling firmly but gently down the tines, creating a bit of a curve and ridges as you go, allowing the dumpling to fall off the ends of the tines and onto a well-floured baking sheet.
Step 5
You can hold the gnocchi on a baking sheet, as long as they are not touching, for a few hours, but better yet, do as we do in the restaurants. We blanch them at this point, which enables you to hold the gnocchi for up to a day in the refrigerator.
Step 6
To blanch, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the gnocchi, 15 to 20 at a time, just until they float to the surface, 1 to 2 minutes. Either add sauce and serve immediately, or place on an oiled baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.
