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Benvenuti al Tutti!

Welcome to Luigi's Tastes of Italy

This blog is my small dedication to Italian cooking, and is abolutely 100% free of pretentiousness, complicated ingredients, or any effort to present Italian cuisine as anything other than it really is, very simple.

Hope you enjoy reading my posts and maybe trying out some of the recipes.

Sunday 27 September 2009

Potato Gnocchi


As good as shop purchased ready-made gnocchi can be, sometimes making them yourself is a bit of a treat. They taste far more potatoey (if such a word exists), you have control over the consistency, and most importantly you know precisely what has gone into the mixture!

As applies to most Italian food, gnocchi are surprisingly easy to make. They are just a combination of floury potatoes, flour and eggs. When it comes to serving them, we most often eat them with a sauce made from double cream, and a blue cheese such as gorgonzola, or a local equivalent (for me a mild Stilton).  Yesterday however, we had them baked with a tomato sauce (see right hand menu), torn mozarella, and generous amounts of parmesan grated over the top.  To say they tasted delicious is an understatement.

For this particular blog, because I think the process warrants it, I have included some additional photo's to assist.

INGREDIENTS:
(serve 2-3)

4 medium sized potatoes, any floury types.
100g plain flour
1 medium sized egg
salt and pepper to season.


METHOD:

-Place your potatoes unpeeled (VERY important not to peel them) into a medium sized pan, filled with cold water, place onto high heat and cook for around 20-30 minutes until tender. Be careful not to break the skin, or poke them too many times with a fork.  We want to keep all the starch inside the potato.

- Once the potatoes are drained and cooled down sufficiently, very carefully remove the skins, chunk the potatoes and pass them through a potato ricer (shown above).  It might be an idea to pass them a couple of times to make sure they are ultra smooth, and light.


- Form the riced potatoes into a mound, and break an egg into the center.  Next add three quarters of the flour, season with salt and pepper, and combine the mixture into a dough on a floured surface. Add extra flour as you go, until you get a firmish dough but still slightly moist.  It is important not to handle the mix too much, but do make sure its nicely combined and holding together well.

- Once happy with the mixture, flour the surface and dough lightly and mix into an oval, and cut into two pieces as above. Next roll the halves into sausages, approximately an inch in diameter.


- Take each sausage and cut into inch blocks, and then on the back of a fork gently roll them to get a thumb indent on one side, and a rolled look on the other. Don't worry you do not have to be too precise. This is home cooked Italian food, not a Michelin starred restaurant.  Lightly flour the gnocchi, and put to one side.

-Next bring some water to a boil in a large pan, lightly salt, and drop the gnocchi into the pan. As soon as they start to float, wait about a minute.  Then with a slotted spoon scoop them out, and serve as soon as possible.


SERVING SUGGESTION:

Gnocchi are fantastic served in a variety of ways, some of which include sage butter, with a freshly made basil pesto, or as mentioned baked in the oven with mozeralla, tomato sauce, and lots of parmesan.  Another great idea is to gently heat some double cream in frying pan, and then slowly crumble into it a gorgonzola cheese, or a medium tasting blue equivalent, once melted pour over the gnocchi. Enjoy!

9 comments:

Velva said...

I love gnocchi! I have never had the courage to make it at home. You did a fabulous job! Very impressive.

Alma said...

I would really like to make gnocchi one time.

Kim said...

Thanks for visiting my blog, Stirring the Pot. My latest obsession is cooking Italian and I love your blog! Gnocchi are so tasty and yours looks perfect!

Joanne said...

I made gnocchi from scratch once and it took me FOREVER. I think your method looks way more straightforward than the one that I used, so I'm gonna have to try again. My mom always used to make frozen gnocchi for us in chicken soup. I've never had it in the gorgonzola sauce, but your baked recipe also sounds delicious.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I'm always up for some good Italian food (seeing as how I am 100% Italian) so I will be stopping by here frequently.

Mari said...

I just found your blog and I think I am inlove with it lol...I love love love italian cuisine =)

Karine said...

Homemade gnocchi are so good! And I love the design you made on yours :)

pierre said...

Hi luigi grerat for you to start a food blog I have started mine in May and this is great ; I hope you'lle njoy it and thanks for the gnocchi receipe i love them with tomato sauce ! and if you want to see some french creative cuisine come and see me you are very welcome !! cheers Pierre

Jelli said...

I was reminded and inspired by this post to make my 1st batch of gnocchi last weekend. It turned out fantastic and pillowy light. Thanks for helping out with all the pictures and information. Now that I see how easy (and fun)the dough is to make, I'll be sure to save lots of $$ at the grocery. My only issue was that the tines of the fork didn't seem to make much of an impression unless I pressed fairly hard, which squished my lovely potato dumplings

Jennie said...

To say I love gnocchi would be an understatement! I just cant get enough! I might try this recipe, but with sweet potatoes! I have a crispy gnocchi salad recipe on my blog. It's delicious!

Great blog you have here!

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