What’s my favourite way to eat potatoes, you ask? Well by turning them into pasta, of course!
Potatoes are an extremely versatile and delicious staple that can be used in a wide variety of ways. You can use them to make delicious soups, fry them up and enjoy as a side dish, or turn them into delicious pasta! This post will guide you through the last, and possibly best, option.
4 medium sized potatoes
2 cups of flour
1 large egg
½ tsp salt
Step 1: Cook the potatoes
As a first step, you’ll need to cook the potatoes. Some people like to boil them, but I prefer baking them in the oven. This method avoids getting the potatoes wet, which can be a pain when trying to make your dough.
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the potatoes (the whole potato, including the skin), for approximately 1 hour, or until you can easily pierce them with a fork.
Step 2: Making the dough
While the potatoes are still warm, but not too hot to the touch, remove the skins and place what’s left into a large bowl. Mash the potatoes until there are no remaining lumps. Your best bet here is to use a potato ricer or masher.
Once you’re done mashing the potatoes, add the flour, egg, and salt and knead together with your hands until everything is fully incorporated. This should take approximately 5 minutes.
Step 3: Shaping the Gnocchi
Once you’re satisfied with the dough, it’s time for the fun part – shaping the gnocchi.
Start by tearing off a piece of the dough (around ¼ of what you made) and roll it out into a thin rope (around ½ inch in diameter). Next, take the rope and cut it into ½ inch long pieces. Repeat this until you have used up all the dough.
To give the gnocchi their characteristic grooves, use the teeth of a fork and gently press and slide the gnocchi pieces against it.
Step 4: Cooking
Gnocchi are extremely easy and quick to cook. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add salt (around 1 tbsp). Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and let it cook for approximately 2 minutes. You’ll know they are ready when they start to float (uncooked gnocchi will fall to the bottom of the pot). When all the pieces float to the top, drain the water and serve with your favourite sauce (maybe you even have some leftover tomato sauce lying around).
You can also choose to freeze what you’ve made and enjoy it later. In this case, you’ll want to lay the gnocchi onto a tray (or a couple of plates) and freeze them that way before packaging them. Otherwise, you’ll end up with one giant gnocchi clump (not the best way to serve pasta).
There you have it, deliciously simple gnocchi… Enjoy!
3 Comments
Love this.
I want yo make some right now!
gonna try this