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GNOCCHI BASICS
Eggs toughen gnocchi and some cooks leave them out, but it is difficult to shape dough. Try doing without, you can always add it later.
Use as little unbleached all-purpose flour as possible, another toughener.
Use low starch potatoes (Yukon Gold, new potatoes, or most yellow fleshed ones). And please bake them when possible - they hold less moisture.
The potatoes should be peeled immediately and passed through a ricer while hot. Donīt use a food processor unless you want paste.
The riced potatoes should cool before you adding egg and flour, then mixed lightly and quickly by hand - only add more flour to prevent sticking.
Italian cooks have many creative ways to shape gnocchi, the idea is to get a surface that helps hold the sauce. The idea is to gently press a nugget of dough against a textured surface with your thumb with a slight forward motion to make the gnocchi. The texturing surface can be an everyday fork, a rounded grater, a small but large holed seive - anything that is easy to hold onto as you work the dough.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil before you begin making the dough so you can drop them in as you shape the gnocchis. Donīt overload the pan, and when they float, count slowly to 10 then lift out gently and place in the sauce. (Be sure your sauce is ready before you even begin making them). If youīre making a lot of them, place them into an oiled baking dish, roll gently to coat and keep warm.
Because gnocchi are light, or are meant to be, they should be lightly sauced. Often they are dressed with only melted butter and Parmesan. With gnocchi made of winter squash or spinach, sage leaves are often added to the butter. Among the traditional partners for potato gnocchi are tomato sauce, meat ragu, pesto or mushroom sauce.
In Italy, gnocchi are a small portion first course. Sauces should be light - butter and parmesan, mushroom sauce, pesto, or a fresh tomato sauce - delicate works best. |
