Making gnocchi is really very simple and there are only three basic ingredients: flour, eggs and potatoes (plus an optional pinch of salt!). Here’s the classic recipe:
Gnocchi, the basic recipe
Ingredients:
2 lb potatoes, 11 oz flour, 1 egg, Salt (optional)
Method:
Wash the potatoes and bring them to a boil in a pot full of water (whole and with the peels). Cook for about 15 minutes or until soft (less time is required for smaller potatoes). Prick with a fork to check for doneness. Drain and cut into pieces, mashing with a potato masher while still hot. The skin should come off easily, leaving only the starchy part for the gnocchi. Mix mashed potatoes with flour and a beaten egg. Once mixture is smooth, cover dough in plastic wrap and let rest half an hour. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour – but only a little! Otherwise, the texture of the gnocchi will become too hard. Make some ‘snake’ shapes with the dough. Cut into pieces about the size of a hazelnut. Boil gnocchi in a pot of salted water. As soon as the gnocchi rise to the surface, drain them with a slotted spoon. Dress with a tomato sauce. Or sauté them in a pan with butter and sage.
Gnocchi Without the Eggs
Yes, you can even make gnocchi without the eggs – just add more flour! The procedure is the same and the cooking method is the same, too. This will change the consistency a little bit (and the texture will be slightly harder). Color them by adding turmeric to the dough.
Ingredients:
2 lb potatoes, 11/12 oz flour, salt
Gluten-free Gnocchi
Gluten-free gnocchi can be prepared with a gluten-free flour suitable for this type of dough Alternatively, make them with rice flour. The consistency will be slightly different and the gnocchi will be softer and lighter, but the taste is almost identical. Be careful not to overcook them, however; they fall apart easily.
Ingredients:
2 lb potatoes, 14 oz rice flour, 3 eggs, salt
Ricotta Gnocchi
You can also make gnocchi without the potatoes. In fact, we suggest the recipe for the famous gnudi – the gnocchi of ricotta and spinach. They are very tasty and delicate. And above all, they’re beautiful to look at thanks to their bright green color.
Ingredients:
4 oz fresh spinach, 7 oz ricotta, 4 ½ oz flour + flour for dusting, 1 egg
Method:
Wash the spinach and cook it for a few minutes in a non-stick pan covered with a lid. Let spinach cool and squeeze well. Chop spinach with ricotta, egg and parmesan cheese using a blender. Pour everything into a bowl and add the flour. Knead with your hands, adding more flour if necessary. On a pastry board, form many ‘snake’ shapes with the dough and cut them into small pieces. Let the gnocchi rest for about 30 minutes on the pastry board and then cook them in boiling salted water until they rise to the surface. You can leave the dough very soft and throw it in water with a spoon, or you can make more compact gnocchi. In the first case, season only with melted butter and plenty of Parmigiano Reggiano and garnish in a pan.
Cauliflower Gnocchi
It’s clear by now that you can make gnocchi with vegetables, right? In addition to using spinach, we suggest trying the version with cauliflower! Some make them with simply blended raw cauliflower mixed with flour and water, but we prefer the version that’s been cooked first:
Ingredients:
1 lb raw cauliflower, 1 lb pastry or cake flour, 1 egg, Salt
Method:
Wash the cauliflower, cut it into pieces and cook it in boiling water until soft. Once drained, crush it with a potato masher or fork and mix it with the flour and egg. Make a dough and let it rest in the refrigerator. Once you have your gnocchi, cook them as you would the regular version. Season with a simple vegetable or a light pesto.
Colored Gnocchi
We already said that gnocchi can be colored yellow with turmeric. You could also make them red with paprika or just add colorful vegetables to the mixture for a beautiful dish to serve. Red turnips turn the dish pink, for example. Or carrots give the dish an orange hue! Try these and we promise the kids will love them!
Gnocchi Shapes
If you’ve never made gnocchi before, we suggest making the simplest version – similar to a dumpling.To adjust your gnocchi size, consider that they should not be too big – but not invisible either. A hazelnut is the perfect unit of measure; a walnut is too big! If you want to make your gnocchi prettier (or Insta-worthy), make the ‘snake’ shapes using the ridged tines of a fork. Or use your pinky to make a little concave shape in the center for a kind of dimple to hold the seasoning. Want to know a secret, though? It’s more important that they taste good!
How do you pronounce ‘gnocchi’?
It might seem simple, but it’s not! To say it, you have to first divide the word into several parts. ‘Gn’ in Italian is pronounced more like like ‘ni,’ but you press the tongue more towards the palate. On the other hand, ‘occhi’ is pronounced like ‘okie,’ but with a final ‘e’ pronounced ‘ee’ in English. So – put ‘ni’ + ‘okie’ together and try to pronounce ‘gnocchi’ like an Italian! Mission accomplished! Maybe it wasn't so hard, actually.